Youngstown Vindicator (May 31, 1945)
U.S. casualties reach 1,002,887, four times War I
WASHINGTON (UP) – U.S. combat casualties in this war passed 1,000,000 today.
Military losses as announced officially here reached 1,002,887, an increase of 6,798 over a week ago.
The total included 890,019 Army and 112,868 Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard casualties.
The overall total, including only those casualties which have bee tabulated and announced in Washington, was nearly our times the First World War total of 259,735 for all services.
The week’s increase was almost evenly divided between the two major branches. The Army’s total rose 3,494 while the Navy, reflecting heavy losses off Okinawa, climbed 3,304.
The casualty total for all services includes 227,097 dead, 607,468 wounded, 63,455 missing and 104,867 taken prisoner.
Of the prisoners, about 90,000 were in Europe and have been liberated.
The missing total includes about 44,000 Army missing in Europe. Under Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson told a press conference that there was little hope that many of these would turn up alive.
Patterson disclosed that five infantry divisions – the 3rd, 4th, 9th, 45th and 36th – suffered among them a total of 133,394 casualties.
Each, he said, suffered losses greater than its total strength at any one time. An infantry division’s strength is about 15,000.
With the exception of the 4th Division, which landed in Normandy on D-Day, all saw service in North Africa, Sicily or Italy before combat extended to France and Germany.