The General Pershing WWI casualty list was a list of

casualties A casualty (), as a term in military usage, is a person in military service, combatant or non-combatant, who becomes unavailable for duty due to any of several circumstances, including death, injury, illness, missing, capture or desertion. In c ...

released to the media by the

American military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Newspapers like the ''

Evening Public Ledger The ''Public Ledger'' was a daily newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, published from March 25, 1836, to January 1942. Its motto was "Virtue, Liberty, and Independence". It was Philadelphia's most widely-circulated newspaper for a period, but ...

'' (''EPL'') would title the list's summary, ''General Pershing Reports'' or ''Pershing Reports''. The name ''General Pershing'' refers to

General John Pershing General of the Armies John Joseph Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948), nicknamed "Black Jack", was an American army general, educator, and founder of the Pershing Rifles. He served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forc ...

, who was in command of the

American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...

(AEF), the expeditionary force of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

during

. While fighting the

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

on the Western Front the AEF would take daily casualties in the form of those

killed in action Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action. The United States Department of Defense, for example, ...

(KIA), those who died from their wounds, those who died from disease, accidental deaths, soldiers

missing in action Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty (person), casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoner of war, prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been ...

(MIA) and soldiers

wounded in action Wounded in action (WIA) describes combatants who have been wounded while fighting in a combat zone during wartime, but have not been killed. Typically, it implies that they are temporarily or permanently incapable of bearing arms or continuing ...

(WIA). These numbers would be tabulated by the American military and then released to the American news media. After the war, the real numbers were mined from the military bureaucracy as opposed to the

fog of war The fog of war is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, and adversary Intent (Military), inten ...

. During World War I, 4,734,991 served in the American military. There were a total of 116,516 deaths, with 53,402 of those occurring in battle. Another 63,114 died of noncombat reasons, including about 45,000 due to the 1918 outbreak of

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

; 30,000 soldiers died before they even reached France. Of those that survived the war, 204,002 were wounded in some way.

The list

One of the publications that printed this data along with the names who were reported dead and wounded was the ''

'', a

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

published from March 25, 1836, to January 1942. On November 5, 1917, the ''EPL'' published a story with the headline "Casualty List In First Action Thrills Nation". In the article it listed the first three American deaths in the war:

McLean County, Kentucky McLean County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,152. Its county seat is Calhoun and its largest city is Livermore. McLean is a prohibition or dry county. McLean County is part ...

's Corporal James Bethel Gresham,

Private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

Merle Hay Merle David Hay (July 20, 1896 – November 3, 1917) was the first Iowa serviceman, and perhaps the first American serviceman to die in combat while assigned to an American unit, in World War I, along with Corporal James Bethel Gresham of Eva ...

from

Glidden, Iowa Glidden is a town in Carroll County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,151 at the time of the 2020 census. History Glidden was laid out as a town in 1866. It was named either for Capt. W. T. Glidden, a railroad promoter, or in honor o ...

, and Private

Thomas Enright Thomas Francis Enright (May 7, 1887 – November 3, 1917) was the first Pennsylvania serviceman, and perhaps the first American serviceman to die in combat while assigned to an American unit, in World War I, along with Corporal James Bet ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, Pennsylvania. They had been killed in a skirmish on November 3, 1917. In addition to the three Americans KIA the casualty list printed that five were WIA and twelve soldiers were MIA. Initially, the casualty lists were published with casualty's name and their address. From March 9, 1918, the list was "denatured" or stripped of home addresses. On April 2, 1918, the American War Department said that the only source for casualty lists would be the American command headquarters in France (Pershing's AEF).

April 1919

March 1919

February 1919

January 1919

December 1918

November 1918

October 1918

September 1918

August 1918

July 1918

June 1918

May 1918

April 1918

March 1918

February 1918

January 1918

December 1917

November 1917

Bibliography

Notes References * * - Total pages: 38 * - Total pages: 288 * * * * * * *{{cite journal , last1=Wevera, first1=Peter C Wevera, last2=van Bergenc, first2=Leo , date=June 27, 2014, pmc = 4181817 , title =Death from 1918 pandemic influenza during the First World War: a perspective from personal and anecdotal evidence , journal=

Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses ''Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering virology, published by John Wiley & Sons for the International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Diseases. As of 2018, the editor is Benjam ...

, volume=8, issue=5, pages=538–546, publisher =

United States National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. I ...

, doi=10.1111/irv.12267, pmid=24975798 Lists of battles

Battles A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

War casualties