All the files listed below are available to read or download
from the National Archives in the following two files.
Combat Area Casualties Current File,
6/8/1956 - 1/21/1998
Read or Download
Combat Area Casualties Returned Alive File,
5/1/1962 - 3/22/1979
Read or Download
Title:
Records on Military Personnel Who Died, Were Missing in Action or Prisoners of War
as a Result of the Vietnam Conflict, created, 1/20/1967 - 12/1998, documenting the period
6/8/1956 - 1/21/1998
Creator:
Department of Defense. Washington Headquarters Services. Directorate for Information
Operations and Reports. Statistical Information Analysis Division. (ca. 1997 - )
Type of Archival Materials:
Data Files and Textual Records
Level of Description:
Series from Record Group 330: Records of the Office of the Secretary
of Defense
Other Titles:
[Southeast Asia] Combat Area Casualties File (CACF)
[Southeast Asia] Combat Area Casualties Data Base
Combat Area Casualties Data Base (CACDB)
Location:
NWME Electronic and Special Media Records Services Division National
Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001
(phone) 301-837-0470 (fax) 301-837-3681 (e-mail) cer@nara.gov
Inclusive Dates:
1/20/1967 - 12/1998
Coverage Dates:
6/8/1956 - 1/21/1998
Date Note:
Although this series was created in 1967, the records in it date back to 1956.
Part of: Record Group 330: Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense
Function and Use: The agency created this series as the official repository for records on U.S.
military casualties in the Southeast Asian combat areas during the Vietnam Conflict and used the
database as the source for official information about U.S. military personnel casualties related
to the Vietnam Conflict and for disseminating statistical data concerning them.
Scope & Content Note:
This series contains records of U.S. military officers and soldiers who died
as a result of either a hostile or nonhostile occurrence or who were missing in action or prisoners
of war in the Southeast Asian combat area during the Vietnamese Conflict, including casualties that
occurred in Cambodia, China, Laos, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and Thailand. The records derive
from information submitted by each of the military services on Department of Defense Form 1300,
Individual Report of Casualty. The database has both final and nonfinal records; a data field in
each record distinguishes between them. Final records, also referred to as the "last" records,
represent the most current official information about a deceased casualty or about repatriated
personnel; nonfinal records, also referred to as "previous" records, are those that precede the
final records. Each record includes: the casualty's name, service number, file reference number,
date of birth, date of death or repatriation, date Southeast Asian tour began, record processing
date, city and state of home of record, the casualty's military service branch, country of casualty,
type of casualty, military grade and pay grade, military occupation, service component, race,
religion, length of service, marital status, sex, citizenship, the reason or cause of casualty,
whether the casualty involved an aircraft, the status of the casualty's body (whether recovered or
not), whether the casualty was posthumously promoted, and the South Vietnam province where the
casualty occurred, when applicable.
Access Restrictions:
Restricted - Partly. FOIA (b)(6) Personal Information. Records for U.S. military
personnel casualties are partly restricted when the casualty type code indicates that the person is not deceased. Such records exist in a majority of the files in the series. Public use versions of the files with restricted records have been created for release to researchers.
General Note:
This series has three separate files: the Current File (final records of the deceased),
the Returned Alive File (final records of repatriated personnel), and the History File (nonfinal
records for either deceased or repatriated personnel). NARA releases nonfinal or history records
when explicitly requested. NARA makes available through the Access to Archival Databases (AAD)
system only the final records from the most recent accession of the Returned Alive File and of the
Current File.Agency materials and NARA finding aids may refer to the series by one of several alternative titles.
One title, Combat Area Casualties Data Base, is often shortened to the acronym CACDB. NARA also refers to the series as [Southeast Asia] Combat Area Casualties Data Base or [Southeast Asia] Combat Area Casualties File (CACF) to clarify that the records are limited to U.S. military personnel who died or where missing or captured as a result of the conflict in the defined Southeast Asian combat area.
The agency continues to maintain the database and revises casualty records when new information about a casualty is transmitted from one of the military branches. Occasionally this includes adding records for casualties newly deceased or whose casualty had not previously been reported by the casualty's branch of service. Since the creation of the database, the procedures for revising records have changed. For some of the period, the agency added a new and revised record to the database for an individual for whom there was a previous record as a means of documenting the revision of information about the casualty. In these cases, they coded the new record as a last record (or final record) in the data field, Last Record Code, and coded the previous record as a previous or nonfinal record in this data field. Other times the information in the Date Record Processed data field was updated to indicate a revision to an already existing casualty record rather than adding a new record with the revised information. Therefore, in order to preserve full information about changes made to any of the records, NARA is preserving each of the files as a discrete snapshot of the data.
Finding Aid Type: Technical Information
Finding Aid Source: NARA and Directorate for Information Operations and Reports in the Office of
the Secretary of Defense
Extent: 26 data files and 3 inches of paper documentation
Index Terms
Subjects Represented in the Archival Material
Battle casualties
Casualties
Missing in action
Names, Personal
Prisoners of war
Soldiers
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
War casualties
Cambodia (Asia) nation
China (Asia) nation
Laos (Asia) nation
Southeast Asia (Asia) region (general)
Thailand (Asia) nation
Vietnam (Asia) nation
Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001
Telephone: 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272
International Relations: Vietnam War
11 series, listed chronologically
Series and Files - No. of Records
Records on Military Personnel Who Died, Were Missing in Action or Prisoners of War as a Result
of the Vietnam Conflict, created, 1/20/1967 - 12/1998, documenting the period 6/8/1956 - 1/21/1998
- Record Group 330 58,965
Combat Area Casualties Current File, 6/8/1956 - 1/21/1998 58,193
Combat Area Casualties Returned Alive File, 5/1/1962 - 3/22/1979 772
Records with Unit Information on Military Personnel Who Died During the Vietnam War,
created, ca. 1983 - 12/18/2005, documenting the period 6/8/1956 - 10/10/2003 -
Collection COFF 58,277
The Coffelt Database Unit Identifiers, December 2005 Update 58,277
Records of Deceased, Wounded, Ill, or Injured Army Personnel, Including Dependents and Civilian
Employees, created, 1/1/1961 - 12/1981, documenting the period 1/1/1961 - 12/1981 -
Record Group 407 293,858
[File from the U.S. Army] Casualty Information System, 1/1/1961 - 12/1981 293,858
Records of Prime Contracts Awarded by the Military Services and Agencies, created, 7/1/1965 - 6/30/1975,
documenting the period 7/1/1965 - 6/30/1975 - Record Group 330 2,046,585
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1965 - 6/30/1966 206,009
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1966 - 6/30/1967 227,272
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1967 - 6/30/1968 214,158
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1965 - 6/30/1966 206,009
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1966 - 6/30/1967 227,272
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1967 - 6/30/1968 214,158
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1968 - 6/30/1969 214,339
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1969 - 6/30/1970 187,607
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1970 - 6/30/1971 176,074
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1971 - 6/30/1972 192,052
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1972 - 6/30/1973 196,890
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1973 - 6/30/1974 208,118
Military Prime Contract File, 7/1/1974 - 6/30/1975 224,066
Records of Awards and Decorations of Honor During the Vietnam Conflict,
created, 5/1969 - 3/1973, documenting the period 12/1965 - 11/1972
- Record Group 472 80,701
Awards and Decorations System (AWADS) Translated File, 12/1965 - 11/1972 80,701
Records About Naval Gunfire Support During the Vietnamese Conflict,
created, 3/1966 - 1/1973, documenting the period 3/1966 - 1/1973 -
Record Group 218 149,827
CONGA, 3/1966 - 1/1973 149,827
Records About the Ground Combat Operations by the Army During the Vietnam
Conflict, created, 7/31/1966 - 3/12/1973, documenting the period 7/31/1966 - 3/12/1973
- Record Group 218 741,393
Situation Report Army File (SITRA) [de-NIPSed], 7/31/1966 - 12/28/1968 239,976
Situation Report Army File (SITRA) [de-NIPSed], 1/1/1969 - 12/28/1969 145,268
Situation Report Army File (SITRA) [de-NIPSed], 1/1/1970 - 12/31/1970 125,187
Situation Report Army File (SITRA) [de-NIPSed], 7/31/1966 - 12/28/1968 239,976
Situation Report Army File (SITRA) [de-NIPSed], 1/1/1969 - 12/28/1969 145,268
Situation Report Army File (SITRA) [de-NIPSed], 1/1/1970 - 12/31/1970 125,187
Situation Report Army File (SITRA) [de-NIPSed], 1/1/1971 - 3/12/1973 230,962
Records About Combat Operations by Army Units and Their Use and Loss of Military
Supplies During the Vietnam Conflict, created, 7/1/1967 - 6/30/1970,
documenting the period 7/1/1967 - 6/30/1970 - Record Group 338 1,109,237
COLED-V Ammunition Expenditures, 7/1/1967 - 6/30/1968 243,666
COLED-V Ammunition Expenditures, 7/1/1968 - 6/30/1969 372,247
COLED-V Ammunition Expenditures, 7/1/1969 - 6/30/1970 310,662
COLED-V Ammunition Expenditures, 7/1/1967 - 6/30/1968 243,666
COLED-V Ammunition Expenditures, 7/1/1968 - 6/30/1969 372,247
COLED-V Ammunition Expenditures, 7/1/1969 - 6/30/1970 310,662
COLED-V Item Losses, 7/1/1967 - 6/30/1970 179,313
COLED-V Item Name File, 7/1/1967 - 6/30/1970 956
COLED-V Organization Name File, 7/1/1967 - 6/30/1970 2,393
Records About Air Sorties Flown in Southeast Asia, created, 1/1970 - 6/1975,
documenting the period 1/1970 - 6/1975 - Record Group 218 1,895,916
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 1/1/1970 - 2/28/1970 80,411
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 3/1/1970 - 4/30/1970 89,256
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 5/1/1970 - 6/30/1970 78,697
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 1/1/1970 - 2/28/1970 80,411
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 3/1/1970 - 4/30/1970 89,256
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 5/1/1970 - 6/30/1970 78,697
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 7/1/1970 - 8/31/1970 63,195
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 9/1/1970 - 10/31/1970 60,184
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 11/1/1970 - 12/31/1970 72,808
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 1/1/1971 - 2/28/1971 90,834
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 3/1/1971 - 4/30/1971 106,454
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 5/1/1971 - 6/30/1971 82,486
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 7/1/1971 - 8/31/1971 62,248
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 9/1/1971 - 10/31/1971 62,700
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 11/1/1971 - 12/31/1971 77,050
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 1/1/1972 - 2/29/1972 84,254
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 3/1/1972 - 4/30/1972 93,071
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 5/1/1972 - 6/30/1972 117,717
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 7/1/1972 - 8/31/1972 111,849
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 9/1/1972 - 10/31/1972 96,332
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 11/1/1972 - 12/31/1972 92,008
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 1/1/1973 - 3/31/1973 93,543
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 4/1/1973 - 8/15/1973 105,641
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 8/16/1973 - 12/31/1973 42,124
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 1/1/1974 - 12/31/1974 104,716
Southeast Asia Data Base (SEADAB) (translated), 1/1/1975 - 6/30/1975 28,338
Records About Combat Incidents in Cambodia During the Vietnam Conflict,
created, 6/30/1970 - 6/12/1974, documenting the period 6/30/1970 - 6/12/1974
- Record Group 330 50,00
Cambodian Incidents File (KHMER)[Translated], 6/30/1970 - 6/12/1974 50,008
Central Foreign Policy Files, created, 7/1973 - 12/1975, documenting the period
1973 ? - 12/1975 - Record Group 59 791,847
Electronic Telegrams, 1/1/1973 - 12/31/1973 119,356
Electronic Withdrawal Cards, 1973 ? - 12/1973 5,615
Electronic Telegrams, 1/1/1974 - 12/31/1974 200,580
Electronic Telegrams, 1/1/1973 - 12/31/1973 119,356
Electronic Withdrawal Cards, 1973 ? - 12/1973 5,615
Electronic Telegrams, 1/1/1974 - 12/31/1974 200,580
Electronic Withdrawal Cards, 1/1974 - 12/1974 9,885
P-Reel Index, 1/1974 - 12/1974 91,427
P-Reel Index Withdrawal Cards, 1/1974 - 12/1974 2,520
Electronic Telegrams, 1/1/1975 - 12/31/1975 231,047
Electronic Withdrawal Cards, 1/1/1975 - 12/31/1975 13,131
P-Reel Index, 1/1/1975 - 12/31/1975 115,771
P-Reel Index Withdrawal Cards, 1/1/1975 - 12/31/1975 2,515
