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Greetings from the Presidentby Richard ShandJune 1996 I had the somewhat unique experience of being a Canadian in Vietnam. My family emigrated to Albuquerque New Mexico from Vancouver, British Columbia in August, 1963. As an alien resident, I was now eligible for the draft and I registered with the draft board when I turned 18 in 1965.
Although my grades were good, the lack of funding and my lack of purpose in attending university made me decide to drop out. I moved back to Vancouver in February 1968 where I became part of the psychedelic revolution. In April a couple of good friends visited me from New Mexico and I returned home with them - the prodigal son. In my absence the Selective Service Board declared me draft delinquent for not reporting my change of address. I quickly wrote the board and explained that my stay to Canada had only been temporary and that I had returned to the States. My letter seemed to satisfy them. They moved me to the top of the selection list and two months later I received a letter - "Greetings from the President of the United States". I had been inducted into the army.
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Anonymous Warriors"The worst of ours are going north, and the best of theirs are coming south." When I was in Vietnam I was told that there were only 100 other Canadians in-country at the time (including my brother who served up north as a tech inspector for the choppers of the 2nd Signal Brigade at Phu Bai.) I had been drafted but almost all Canadian Vietnam veterans I have met were volunteers who crossed the border to enlist. Since most Canadians gave the US border city they enlisted in as their point of origin, the actual number of Canadians who served in Vietnam may never be known. In addition, many Canadians serving in Vietnam become US citizens and stayed in the United States after their return. Fred Gaffen is the chief historian at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
From 1986 to 1987 I handled public relations for Canada's largest Vietnam veterans organization, Vietnam Veterans in Canada (VVIC). Based on the size of the organization and the number Canadian Vietnam veterans VVIC came in contact with, I estimated that Canadians serving in Vietnam numbered no more than 3,000.
Information is available which allows one to calculate a reasonable estimate1. These include several undisputed facts about Canadians who served in the US armed forces during the Vietnam war: (a) The number who took out US citizenshipFor my primary sources I will use Fred Gaffen's book Unknown Warriors - Canadians in the Vietnam War and the VVIC membership list for 1988.
![]() 1. How did Canadians end up in Vietnam? Unknown Warriors lists 48 Canadian Vietnam veterans where information about citizenship, place of residency and service status is available.
Service status breaks down into the following categories:
Many Canadian Vietnam veterans became naturalized citizens of the United States before, during and after the Vietnam War.
Service Status of Canadian Veterans in Vietnam
![]() 2. How many Canadians with US citizenship served in Vietnam? Unknown Warriors lists 22 Canadian Vietnam veterans who became US citizens where information about service status and date of citizenship is available. 67% of the career soldiers (4/6), 20% of the volunteers (1/5). and 50% of the draftee/enlistees (2/4) became naturalized between 1967 to 1975 (the years of US peak involvement in Vietnam). If we apply Table 1 to the percentages above, we can calculate what percentage of each service status gained US citizenship from 1967 to 1975 .
Canadian Vietnam Veterans Naturalized Between 1967 and 1975
39% of Canadian Vietnam veterans with US citizenship in Vietnam were volunteers (Table 1), most of whom joined specifically to serve in Vietnam. We can allow that 24% of all Canadians in the regular US Armed Forces served in Vietnam, based on the percentage that applied to the Armed Forces as a whole. If we increase this percentage by 39% to allow for new volunteers crossing the border, then 33% of the Canadians in the US armed forces who became naturalized US citizens served in Vietnam, numbering 1,071. Since this figure represents 45.5% of all Canadian Vietnam veterans with American citizenship (Table 2), their total would equal 2,354 - which can be rounded off to:
![]() 3. How many Canadians with US citizenship were killed in Vietnam? (The following data on all personnel was obtained from Bill Abbott's article "Names on the Wall", Vietnam Magazine, June 1993. The data on Canadians was obtained from the VVIC membership list and Unknown Warriors).
US Armed Forces in Vietnam by Branch of Service
These are rough estimates, but they indicate that Canadian Vietnam veterans with US citizenship were much more likely than average to have served with the air force and less likely to have served in the Marine Corps. If we apply these percentages of Canadians with US citizenship to our estimated total of 2,500, we arrive at the following numbers:
Canadians With US Citizenship in Vietnam by Branch of Service
Percent Dead and Wounded in Vietnam by Branch of Service
We can apply the casualty rates to our group of Canadians with US citizenship to estimate the number of casualties in each branch of the service.
Estimated Dead or Wounded in Vietnam
The difference in the distribution of Canadian casualties in the different branches of service from the overall percentages is reflected in the overall casualty rate:
Total Percentage of Dead or Wounded in Vietnam
We can then expect that if the casualty rate of our group of Canadians is 74% that of the overall rate, the same ratio can be applied to the mortality rate.
If the mortality rate of the 2,500 Canadians with US citizenship figures was 74% of the 2.8% baseline rate, the result would be 2%. Therefore, the number of Canadians from this group who were killed or missing in action would be:
![]() 4. How many Canadians in total were killed or missing in action in Vietnam?
The names of 105 Canadian KIAs and MIAs listed on the "North Wall" in Windsor Ontario should be not be considered complete {as of July 2000). 3 of 16 Canadian Vietnam veterans whose date of US citizenship is known, or 20%, were raised in the United States and naturalized years before they arrived in Vietnam. If any from this group had been killed or missing in action, they would be amongst the least likely to be listed as Canadian fatalities. In addition, many of the Canadians who were not US citizens may also be unaccounted for, despite intensive efforts by Canadian veterans groups to locate them. Consequently, total Canadian-born KIAs and MIAs could be as high as 200. According to our figures, 80% of the Canadians with US citizenship and virtually of those without who were killed or missing in action in Vietnam grew up in Canada. It is inconceivable that more than a few have not yet been identified as Canadian citizens by close relatives and friends. Only three new names have been added to the North Wall since 1995 [to April 2000]. This suggests that most MIAs and KIAs have been accounted for. 200 would thus be a unrealistically high estimate. The actual number of Canadian KIAs and MIAs in Vietnam would appear to be closer to: (Note that calculations based on the number of career soldiers listed on the North Wall reveal that the number Canadian KIAs and MIAs in Vietnam range from 135 to 149. See Appendix A.)
![]() 5. How many Canadians without US citizenship served in Vietnam? Unknown Warriors lists the branch of service of 79 Canadians killed or missing in action in Vietnam. (Note: these figures based on information available in 1996.)
Known Canadian KIAs and MIAs by Branch of Service
We can apply the percentages in Table 9 to the estimated 150 Canadian KIAs and MIAs. In addition, if we apply the estimated percentages of dead or wounded in each branch of service (Table 6) to the 50 Canadian KIAs and MIAs with US citizenship. then take the difference, we derive the following numerical breakdown:
Estimated Number Canadian KIAs and MIAs by Branch of Service
We can then compare these calculations with actual numbers using the VVIC membership list and Unknown Warriors.
Percentages of Canadians Without US Citizenship in Vietnam by Branch of Service
There is very close agreement between our estimate and the actual percentage of Canadians known to served in each branch of the military service. 2.8% of all who served in Vietnam were killed or missing in action. (As a comparison, out of the 26,000 Canadians who served in the Korean war, 516 or 2% were killed in action.) If the 100 KIAs and MIAs represented the same percentage, over 3,500 Canadians without US citizenship served in Vietnam. The mortality rate of the Canadians, however, was much higher than average. For instance, volunteers who returned back across the border (and chose not to become US citizens) were 3 times more likely to have served with the US Marine Corps than their American counterparts (44% to 14% - see Table 3).
Overall, Canadians without US citizenship were 4 times more likely to fight as combat infantrymen than the average serviceman in Vietnam.
Combat Status of US Armed Forces in Vietnam5
If we subtract the percentage of Canadians without US citizenship who served in HQ, logistics and engineering units, the majority of these Canadians served in what are termed "maneuver battalions".
Annual KIA Rate per 1000 Average Strength For US Armed Forces in Vietnam (Jan 67- Sep 68)
Using Table 5 - Percent Dead and Wounded in Vietnam by Branch of Service, we can take our percent breakdown of Canadians without US citizenship in Table 10 and extrapolate the number who served in each branch.
Number of Canadians Without US Citizenship by Branch of Service in Vietnam
Based on these figures and allowing an additional 50% for margin of error, the total number of Canadians without US citizenship who served in Vietnam would have been no more than:
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If we add together our estimates of the number of Canadian Vietnam Veterans with and without US citizenship, the total number of Canadians who served in Vietnam is 3,500. The sample of Canadian Vietnam veterans used as the basis for these calculations amount to only 2% of this total, however. Calculations based on the number of career soldiers killed or missing in action could raise this total to 4,000. (See Appendix A.) The VVIC membership list contains the name of any alleged Vietnam veteran given to the organization either by the individual himself, or by someone else (relative, friend, associate, word of mouth.) The VVIC has been in operation since 1985 and has received exceptionally high exposure on TV, radio and the newspapers. If 1/3 of the Vietnam vets in British Columbia and Alberta were made known to the VVIC, the total number of Canadian Vietnam veterans in these provinces would be 300. These provinces constitute 22.2 % of Canada's population. Allowing 10% for post-service mortality (see Appendix B), the total number of Canadian Vietnam veterans without US citizenship would be approximately:
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My estimate has stirred up some controversy here at home since it was published in the Canadian Legion magazine. Some veteran's organizations have uncritically been publicizing much higher figures, partially in the expectation that this would help generate more funding. I wholeheartedly support the efforts of these organizations to assist Vietnam veterans and have benefited myself from the dedicated work of the VVIC. I think that an honest examination of the subject will help more than hinder these groups. It is important to know how many Canadians were in Vietnam to gauge the effectiveness of any outreach program in treating Vietnam related problems such as PTSD. Should resources here in Canada be directed to reach all those unaccounted for thousands, or should resources be concentrated on helping those here in need now? Only a full review of the military records of all those who served in Vietnam (specifically form DD 47) will yield an accurate list of those who entered their place of birth as in Canada and their citizenship as non-American. In the meantime checking the records of all those who were killed or missing in action should help provide a much more reliable count than the guestimates we have now.
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Foot Notes Appendix A - The Problem of the Missing Career Soldiers
Unknown Warriors lists the ranks, birth dates and dates of service of 80 Canadians killed or missing in action in Vietnam. 34 or 42%were E-5 or higher in rank, 46 or 58% were E-4 or lower. Most enlisted casualties were quite young amongst all servicemen in Vietnam.
In contrast, of the Canadian officially listed as KIAs or MIAs, only 48% were 21 or under. Canadians serving in Vietnam were thus 1.7 times more likely than the average serviceman to be E-5 or above, and 1.4 times more likely to be over 21 years of age. To derive the number of career soldiers killed or wounded in action from our estimates we must first determine what percentage of career soldiers served in combatant units (infantry, artillery, combat engineers and aviation).
Ratio of Canadians Serving in Combat Units in Vietnam
According to Table 13, the annual KIA rate for maneuver battalions in Vietnam from January 67 to September 68 was 10.8%, compared with 3.1% overall. This overall percentage is 9% higher than the 2.8% killed in action during the entire duration of the war. If we adjust the KIA rate for maneuver battalions down 9% to correct for the difference, we can expect KIA rate for the duration of the war to have been around 9.7%.
Using 9.7% and 0.7% for the KIA rates of combat and non-combat units respectively and applying them to the ratios in Table 15, we can now derive the mortality rates of Canadians serving in Vietnam according to career status.
Expected Mortality Rates of Canadians Serving in Vietnam
If we take the service status percentages of Canadian Vietnam veterans with and without US citizenship in Table 1 and multiply them by 2,500 and 1,000 respectively, we can estimate how many were in each service status. We can then multiply these amounts by the expected mortality rates in Table 16 and derive the number of expected KIAs and MIAs.
Estimated Number of Canadians in Vietnam According to Service Status
According to this calculation, the number of Canadian KIAs and MIAs in Vietnam was 135.
Percentage of Canadians Serving as Career Soldiers in Vietnam
The estimate from mortality rates should be 1.4 times higher to be in accord with the data from known Canadian KIAs and MIAs. (One possibility for this discrepancy is that the sample used from Unknown Warriors and the VVIC membership list may not be fully representative.) If the number of career soldiers in Table 17 is increased by 1.4 to agree with the KIA and MIA data, the total number of Canadian KIAs and MIAs in Vietnam would then be 149. Applying the expected Mortality Rates from Table 16, the number of Canadians who served as career soldiers would rise from 1,185 to 1,648. This would increase the total number of Canadians who served in Vietnam from 3,500 to around 4,000.
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A percentage of Canadian Vietnam veterans with US citizenship would have died before the studies were undertaken and thus are missing from the total. The Centers for Disease Control Vietnam Experience Study compared 9,324 US Army veterans who served in Vietnam with 8,989 Vietnam-era Army veterans who served in Korea, Germany, or the United States.
By 1983, 246 or 2.6% of the Vietnam veterans had died since discharge from active duty (compared with 200 or 2.2% of the non-Vietnam veterans.) "Both groups of veterans had a significantly lower overall mortality rate for 'natural causes' than the general US male population." The expected percentage, based on the mortality rates among US men, standardized for age, calendar year, and race, is 2.8%. 1.4% of Vietnam veterans died 6 years or more after discharge from active duty to the date of the study in 1983.. If we use this percentage and allow for a slight increase in the mortality rate as the veteran population ages, I would estimate that, at most, an additional 7% of the Vietnam veterans have died since 1983. The raises the total percentage of Vietnam veterans who have died since discharge to just under 10%. |