Canadians At War, 1914-2009*
Canadians have sustained some 114,000 deaths in two world wars,
Korea and various overseas operations since 1914.
SERVED
WOUNDED
WAR
YEARS
OVERSEAS1
KILLED2
IN ACTION
World War I 1914-1918 418,000 66,655 172,950
North Russia 1918-1919 600 7 N/A
Siberia 1918-1919 2,000 20 0
World War II 1939-1945 545,000 45,631 54,414
Korean War 1950-1953 26,791 5163 13 558
Cold War 1951-1991 150,000 7804 0
Vietnam War5 1965-1973 12,0006 126 N/A
Persian Gulf War 1991 2,7007 0 0
Yugoslavia (Former) 1992-2006 46,200 24 116
Somalia 1993 2,3328 1 0
Kosovo 1999-2000 2,8219 1 0
Afghanistan
2002-2007
13,500
4510
615
Update(8 July
2011)
157
Peacekeeping Missions 1947-2007 196,000 12011 N/A
1The total number in uniform during WWI was 644,636; in WWII, 1,081,865.
2 Killed includes deaths due to battle, disease and accident.
3 312 were killed in action.
4 Accidental deaths in training in Germany, for example.
5 Canada was not officially involved in Vietnam, except for peacekeeping-related duties through the International Commission of Control
and Supervision: 7 Canadians total died there in 1957-58, 1965 and 1973. The last was in a helicopter shoot-down.
6 The figures listed apply to volunteers who joined the U.S. armed forces and were killed. Among them was the son of Canada's former
chief of defense staff Gen. Jacques Dextraze. As many as 40,000 Canadians may have served in the U.S. military during the entire
Vietnam era worldwide.
7 Number who actually served during active hostilities. Some 4,074 were stationed in the region, 1990-91.
8 A battalion of the now-disbanded Canadian Airborne Regiment.
9 Canadians were part of the British Armored Brigade in Operation Kinetic.
10 34 in hostile action, 5 from U.S. "friendly fire," 5 in accidents and 1 special operator.
11 Includes 19 missions incurring fatalities beginning in 1950. Vast majority of deaths were non-hostile. Includes deaths in Somalia, Yugoslavia and Kosovo. The worst single loss, however, occurred Aug. 9, 1974, when the Syrians shot down a plane carrying 9 Canadians.
N/A - Not Available
VFW Magazine Editor's Notes: In WWI, Canada suffered horrendous casualties of 57% of those sent over- seas.lts population was only 7.5 million in 1914. In WWII, by comparison, its casualty rate was 12%. An estimated 35,000 Americans enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during WWI. The government of Canada dedicated a Cross of Sacrifice to their losses in Arlington National Cemetery in 1927. Approximately 29,000 Americans crossed the border to fight early in WWII. The Canadian Cross also honors those Americans killed, primarily 1939-1941. Many years later, two Michigan Vietnam veterans returned the sentiments and saw to it that the Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on July 2, 1995, in Assumption Park, Windsor, Ontario.
Interestingly, 40,000 Canadians joined 250 Union and 50 Confederate regiments during the Civil War (1861-1865). So many Nova Scotians enlisted in one Massachusetts regiment that it was nicknamed the "Highlanders." 30 Canadians earned the Medal of Honor and 14,000 died in the Civil War. See "Canadians Served Both Sides in the Civil War" by Norman Shannon in America's Civil War, January 2007, pp. 23-24.
*"Reprinted with permission from the March 2007 issue of VFW magazine."