The German surrender on 8 May 1945, and the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945, together marked the end of World War II. Of the estimated 16 million Americans who served during the war, 406,000 had died and almost 79,000 were missing. The war with Germany resulted in roughly 24,000 unaccounted-for, and with Japan over 54,000. Of these, almost 16,000 individuals were lost in Europe (this number includes those lost in the Battle of the Atlantic). An additional 4,000 were lost in the western waters of the Atlantic. Also lost in the war with Germany were almost 4,000 servicemen serving south and west of the Mediterranean in North Africa and the Persian Gulf. In the east, over 54,000 were lost in the Pacific and in Asia. This includes American casualties lost during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Over 400 additional servicemen were lost in U.S. mainland Pacific coastal waters[2]. http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/special/2000_wwii_report.htm
American casualties were also high. Ground combat losses for the Sixth and Eighth Armies were almost 47,000, some 10,380 killed and 36,550 wounded. Non-battle casualties were even heavier. From 9 January through 30 June 1945, the Sixth Army on Luzon suffered over 93,400 non-combat casualties, including 260 deaths, most of them from disease. Only a few campaigns had a higher casualty rate. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-C-Luzon/
Although Navy and Marine Corps battle casualties were only 159,495 to 162,668 (depending on how one constructs the numbers), Captain Louis H. Roddis, U.S. Navy, M.D., noted in "Naval and Marine Corps Casualties in the Wars of the United States" (Military Surgeon 99 [October 1946]: 305-10) that these figures were more than eight times the number of killed and wounded among our naval personnel in all the other wars of the United States combined. An additional 12,000+ Merchant Marine and Coast Guard battle casualties, primarily from German submarines, were not included in Roddis's study, but do not alter his basic point. The 12,000 figure includes dead and missing but not combat injuries (burns, wounds, etc.), and there were an additional 30,442 Navy and Marine non-battle deaths. Non-battle deaths are frequently included in battle casualty tabulations because, unlike other categories of non-battle casualties, dead personnel are irrevocably removed from the manpower pool, while a percentage of those in other categories returned to full duty status or were able to serve in a reduced capacity within the United States and thus free healthy personnel for overseas duty. http://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/invade.htm
http://www.kyowva.com/bbacks/nationalmisfortune.htm Military Action Hostile Dealths Wounded Non-Hostile Deaths World War II Total 293,121 670,846 115,185 European Theater 185,179 498,948 66,805 Pacific Theater 107,903 171,898 48,380
>>29 >Of the estimated 16 million Americans who served during the war, >406,000 had died and almost 79,000 were missing. The war with Germany >resulted in roughly 24,000 unaccounted-for, and with Japan over 54,000.