Memorial Day--Our Greatest Hero

5/28/06

America's Wars and Casualties

American Revolution, 1775 to 1784

Participants	Deaths in Service	Living Veterans
290,000	4,000	0
Last Veteran: Daniel F. Bakeman, died 4/5/1869, age 109

War of 1812, 1812 to 1815

Participants	Deaths in Service	Living Veterans
287,000	2,000	0
Last Veteran: Hiram Cronk, died 5/13/05, age 105

Indian Wars, approx. 1817 to 1898

Participants	Deaths in Service	Living Veterans
106,000	1,000	0
Last Veteran: Fredrak Fraske, died 6/18/73, age 101

Mexican War, 1846 to 1848

Participants	Deaths in Service	Living Veterans
79,000	13,000	0
Last Veteran: Owen Thomas Edgar, died 9/3/29, age 98

Civil War, 1861 to 1865

Union Participants	Union Deaths in Service	Union Living Veterans
2,213,000	364,000	0
Confederate Participants*	Confederate Deaths in Service*	Confederate Living Veterans
1,000,000	133,821	0
Last Union Veteran: Albert Woolson, died 8/2/56, age 109
Last Confederate Veteran: Disputed.* Learn more...

Spanish-American War, 1898 to 1902

Participants	Deaths in Service	Living Veterans
392,000	11,000	0
Last Veteran: Nathan E. Cook, died 9/10/92, age 106

World War I, 1917 to 1918

Participants	Deaths in Service	Living Veterans
4,744,000	116,000	4,800
Living Veterans does not include World War I veterans with military service in other eras.

World War II, 1940 to 1947

Participants	Deaths in Service	Living Veterans
16,535,000	406,000	6,319,000

Korean Conflict, 1950 to 1955

Participants	Deaths in Service	Living Veterans
6,807,000	55,000	4,179,000

Vietnam Era, 1964 to 1975

Participants	Deaths in Service	Living Veterans
9,200,000	109,000	8,166,000

Gulf War Era, 1990 to TBD (to be determined)

Participants	Deaths in Service	Living Veterans
3,800,000	9,000	2,048,000

America's Wars Total

Participants	Deaths in Service	Living Veterans	Living Ex-Servicemembers
41,790,000	1,090,200	19,300,000	25,188,000

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, July 1998

* Authoritative statistics for Confederate Forces are not available. An estimated 28,000 Confederate soldiers died in Union prisons. In the VA press release, the last Confederate veteran is listed as John Salling.

Note: Figures on the number of living veterans reflect final 1990 Census data and include only veterans living in the United States. Details may not add to total due to rounding.

These men and women are heroes. They died so that we could have and maintain our freedom in this wonderful nation of America. What they accomplished has secured our physical freedom--which is so very important. But our greatest hero is the One who bought our eternal freedom! There has been over 1 million deaths of our comrades to maintain our freedom in America that can still be taken away, but what Jesus did, one man for all mankind can never be taken away! He is by far our greatest hero! Read John 6.