Accession Number:

AD0711528

Title:

ANALYSIS OF 500 US ARMY COMBAT FATALITIES IN VIETNAM, JULY 1967 TO NOVEMBER 1968

Descriptive Note:

Technical rept. Aug 1969-Jun 1970

Corporate Author:

EDGEWOOD ARSENAL ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND MD

Personal Author(s):

• Sunshine, Ian

Report Date:

1970-09-01

Pagination or Media Count:

21.0

Abstract:

The report is an analysis of the causes of death of 500 casualties sustained by the US Army in Vietnam from July 1967 to November 1968. The purpose of this study is to provide information that may be helpful to body armor, wound ballistics, and medical research agencies interested in reducing battle casualties. Thoracic trauma caused the largest number of fatalities in this series. This was followed by injuries of the head and abdomen in that order. The 7.62-39-mm round accounted for at least 22.0 of the total fatalities. The incidence is probably higher as unidentified munitions accounted for another 11. 4 of the fatalities. The 82-mm mortar round, hand grenades, and the rocket- propelled grenades accounted for the majority of the fatalities from fragment wounds. There did not appear to be a significant difference between the percentage of lethal bullet wounds and the percentage of lethal fragment wounds in the head and neck or in the thorax. Most of the wounds occurred when the men were upright or semiupright. Almost half of the bullet wounds and over 45 of the fragment wounds for each body region were incurred in the upright position.

Descriptors:

• *CASUALTIES
• *VIETNAM
• WEAPONS
• WARFARE
• ETIOLOGY
• MILITARY MEDICINE
• WOUNDS AND INJURIES
• PATHOLOGY
• BATTLES

Subject Categories:

• Weapons Effects (Biological)

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE