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American Prisoners of War

Congress defines a prisoner of war as a person who, while serving on active military, naval, or air service, is forcibly detained or interned in the line of duty by an enemy government or a hostile force.

  Total WWI WWII Korea Vietnam Persian Gulf Somalia Iraq
Captured and interned 142,246 4,120 130,201 7,140 725 47 1 9
Returned to U.S. military control 125,213 3,973 116,129 4,418 660 21 1 8
Alive on Jan. 1, 1982 93,030 633 87,996 3,770 631 n.a. n.a. n.a.
Died while POW 17,010 147 14,072 2,701 65 25 0 0
Alive at the end of 2005 29,350 0 26,750 2,000 579 21 1 8
NOTES: n.a. = not applicable. Not included are military personnel considered missing in action: WWII, 78,773; Korea, 8,100; Vietnam, 1,807 (as of 2005); the Persian Gulf, 2; and Iraq, 1..
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

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