Casualty (person)

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Temporary grave of an American machine-gunner during the Battle of Normandy.

A casualty is a person who is the victim of an accident, injury, or trauma. The word casualties is most often used by the media to describe deaths and injuries resulting from wars or disasters. Among the general public, casualties is sometimes misunderstood to be the same thing as fatalities (deaths), but non-fatal injuries are also casualties.

In military usage, casualties usually has a more specific meaning, and refers to all persons lost to active military service, which includes those killed in action, killed by disease, disabled by physical or mental injuries, captured, deserted, and missing. Less serious wounds that do not prevent a person from fighting are usually not counted as casualties. The sum of casualties is known as the casualty count.

Before World War II, deaths by disease usually outnumbered deaths in combat. Historically, 20-30% of those hit in combat died while the rest survived, a ratio of wounded to killed of about 3-1. Due to modern medicine and armor the ratio has increased to around 8 to 1.