Ever found yourself wondering just how much the Vietnam War cost America — in terms of human suffering and financial loss? According to the latest historical research, the nearly 20-year-long war took about 58,000 American lives. Another 150,000 U.S. combat soldiers returned home with permanent wounds or amputations. More than 700,000 were later diagnosed with PTSD. The total cost of the horrendous conflict to U.S. taxpayers, adjusted to 2018 dollars: Nearly $1 Trillion.
One way to picture the financial cost of the war is to imagine that $1 Trillion as a stack of one-dollar bills.
Q. How high would the stack reach?
A. To the moon, and then back to earth again — about two and a half times.
You can read a lot more about the “numbers” that tell the often tragic story of the Vietnam War, simply by clicking on this very interesting website: https://thevietnamwar.info/
