These are indeed some very sobering statistics. As a combat veteran of Marine Corps having served in Vietnam, I have always known that we seem to have a mortality clock that ticks a bit faster than then that of the standard for insurance actuaries. Might any of our readers speculate about why this may be? I have a few observations, but I will let you all go first.
This isn’t good news for us “in country vets”…. Like I always said ….we died in ‘Nam , just haven’t fallen over yet….Too bad all the imposters don’t die just as quick or quicker.
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In case you haven’t been paying attention these past few decades after you
returned from Vietnam , the clock has been ticking. The following are some
statistics that are at once depressing yet in a larger sense should give you a HUGE SENSE OF PRIDE.
“Of the 2,709,918 Americans who served in Vietnam, less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today, with the youngest American Vietnam veteran’s
age approximated to be 54 years old.”
If you’re alive and reading this, how does it feel to be among the last
1/3rd of all the U.S. Vets who served in VietNam ?!?!? …don’t know about
you guys, but kinda gives me the chills, considering this is the kind of
information I’m used to reading about WWII and Korean War vets…
So the last 14 years we are dying too fast, only the few will survive by
2015…if any.. If true, 390 VN vets die a day so in 2,190 days from today,
lucky to be a Vietnam veteran alive….. in only 6 years..
These statistics were taken from a variety of sources to include: The VFW
Magazine, the Public Information Office, and the HQ CP Forward Observer –
1st Recon April 12, 1997.
INTERESTING CENSUS STATISTICS. THOSE TO CLAIM TO HAVE “been there”:
1,713,823 of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August,
1995 (census figures).
During that same Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to
have served in-country was: 9,492,958.
As of the last Census taken during August, 2000, the surviving U.S.
Vietnam Veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511. This is hard to believe,
losing nearly 711,000 between ’95 and ’00. That’s 390 per day.
During this Census count, a huge number of Americans falsely claimed to have
served in-country . (fact check note by Mike Brewer. I do not concur with this figure. The only qualifier may be that there is a misunderstanding about what “In Country” means. There are tons of “Era Vets” who are categorized as Vietnam Veterans, which is sort of true, but they are Vietnam ERA Vets, and never left the United States. There census number is quite high, but I do not think it is this high.)