DEATH WATCH

U.S. casualties in selected battles:

Battle of the Bulge, 1944-45

76,890

*

Battle of Gettysburg, 1863

51,000

*

Battle of Hue, 1968

1,004

*

Second Battle of Fallouja, 2004

694

*

Average American casualties per day:

World War II

790

*

Civil War

665

*

Vietnam War

97

*

Operation Iraqi Freedom

18

*

Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan)

0.6

*

On the home front (deaths per day):

Smoking-related illnesses

1,205

*

Car accidents

117

*

Flu

98

-- Stephen W. Stromberg