- VIETNAM STATISTICS
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- This list tells it all. These statistics could change
many hearts. Pass this on.
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- We, the U.S. have lost over 158,000 American lives to
the Vietnam war and that count is still rising.
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- Approx 58,000 in Vietnam. 100,000 or more to suicide
and most of those occurred after the men came home.
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- This accurate accounting gives us persepective on the
cost of current and future wars.
-
- from
- Fallen Leaves, Broken Lives
- By Edward Tick
- Utne magazine
- January-February 2005 Issue
-
-
- CASUALTIES OF THE VIETNAM WAR
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- THERE ARE MORE THAN 58,000 NAMES OF AMERICAN DEAD ON
THE WALL IN WASHINGTON, D.C., BUT THE TOTAL COSTS ARE STILL BEING TALLIED.
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| THE PEOPLE |
| |
American Veterans |
Vietnamese People |
| In Country |
2.5 million |
est. 1970 pop. 41 million |
| In Combat |
1.5 million |
unknown |
| Killed in Action |
58,000+ |
2.5 million |
| Wounded |
300,000+* |
4 million |
| Missing in Action |
2,000+ |
250,000 |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder |
1.5 million+ |
unknown |
| Suicides |
100,000+ |
unknown |
| Homeless |
150,000 nightly |
unknown |
| Boat People |
0 |
1 million (Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia) |
| Lost at Sea |
0 |
500,000 |
| Disabled Street People |
unknown |
3 million |
| New Agent Orange Deformities |
unknown |
35,000/year |
| Peacetime Deaths Due to Unexploded Bombs & Mines |
0 |
50,000+ (Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia) |
| Maimed by Bombs and Mines (1975-98) |
0 |
67,000 |
| Reeducation Camps |
0 |
400,000 in 100 camps |
| * includes U.S: 74,000 quadriplegics and multiple amputees |
| |
|
|
| THE VIETNAMESE LAND |
| Total Herbicides Used |
19.4 million gallons |
| Agent Orange Sprayed |
11.7 million gallons |
| Mangrove Forest Destroyed |
60% |
| Forest & Jungle Destroyed |
18% |
| Cultivated Land Destroyed |
8% |
| |
|
|
| U.S. BOMBING |
| 8 billion+ pounds (4 times more than WWII total; equal to 600 Hiroshima-size
bombs) |
| 23 million bomb craters |
| 2,257 U.S. aircraft lost |
| Over 4,000 of toal 5,778 villages bombed, 150 completely destroyed |
| |
|
|
| DESTROYED |
| 10 million cubic meters of dikes |
|
|
| 815 hydroelectric works |
|
|
| 1,100 lake embankments |
|
|
| 8 forestries |
|
|
| 48 agricultural research centers with 6,000 agricultural machines and 46,000
water buffalo |
| 400 factories |
|
|
| 18 power stations |
|
|
| 13,000 boats |
|
|
| 15,100 bridges |
|
|
| 2,923 high schools and universities |
|
|
| 350 hospitals |
|
|
| 1,500 maternity hospitals |
|
|
| 484 churches |
|
|
| 465 pagodas |
|
|
| 240,540 thatched huts |
|
|
| |
|
|
| TOTAL COST TO THE UNITED STATES: |
| $925 Billion |
|
|
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- Edward Tick collected these statistics by searching history
books, newspapers, and archives, and interviewing survivors and scholars
throughout the United States and Southeast Asia. Following is a partial
list of his sources. In the United States: Disabled American Veterans;
The New York Times; Hell, Healing and Resistance by Daniel Hallock; The
Vietnam War: A History in Documents, by Young, Fitzgerald & Grunfel; Webster's
New World Dictionary of the Vietnam War. In Viet Nam: Army Museum, Ha Noi;
Hong Ngoc (Rosy Jade) Humanity Center, Sao Do; Research Center for Gender,
Family, and Environment in Development, Ha Noi; Women's Museum, Ha Noi;
War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City.
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- EDWARD TICK (left) is director and senior psychotherapist
of the Sanctuary: A Center for Mentoring the Soul in Albany, New York (www.mentorthesoul.com). He is
known for his groundbreaking work with Viet Nam veterans -- as well as
veterans of World War II, Korea, El Salvador, Lebanon, the first Gulf War,
and the present war in Iraq -- suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The author of The Practice of Dream Healing (Quest, 2001), he
has two books forthcoming this year: The Golden Tortoise: Viet Nam
Journeys (Red Hen, April 2005) and War and the Soul (Quest,
November 2005).
- Tick recently presented his work at the Bioneers Conference,
an annual gathering of those who seek "visionary & practical solutions
for restoring the earth and people" in Marin, California. To read
about the work of other Bioneers, go to www.utne.com/bioneers.
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