96th Infantry Division

Deadeye Battle Statistics

     
The Deadeyes
The Deadeyes of the US Army 96th Infantry Division are known primarily for their successful combat operations in WWII in the Pacific Theatre; notably in the Leyte and Samar Islands in the Philippines, and the island of Okinawa, Japan.
They are also known for their extensive activities around the world since WWII, serving our country with the 96th Regional Readiness Command; an Army Reserve component.
The 96th Division acquired their nickname, "The Deadeyes," from Brigadier General Claudius Easley. He was an exceptional marksman by example, who was later killed on Okinawa.
Counting all the replacements, it has been estimated that the division had upwards to 30,000 men on rosters during WWII. 
Citations
The 96th Division received both the Presidential Unit Citation and the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, for combat operations on Okinawa and Leyte, respectively.
Men in the Division in WWII earned five Congressional Medals of Honor, twenty-three Distinguished Service Crosses, and more than 200 Silver Stars.
In addition hundreds were awarded Bronze Stars, Combat Infantry Badges and Battle Stars.
Casualties
The most accurate figures we have to report as of 2009 for Deadeye losses are:  In Leyte 486 men were killed as well as 28 attached troops, making a total of 514, which includes dying of wounds. It was also reported that there were 1289 men wounded. This figure may be low. Diseases affected a lot of Deadeyes, and it was reported that by Christmas of ’44, there were 2500 men who were either sick or wounded in combat.
On Samar, 2 Deadeyes were killed and 4 wounded.
On Okinawa 1595 Deadeyes were killed, or died of wounds as well as 27 from the attached troops for a total of 1622. Division Medical Units treated 11,984 wounded men listed as casualties.
Based on the above figures the totals were: 2,136 Deadeyes were killed or died of wounds, and 14,484 were wounded, or suffered jungle diseases, all through June, 1945. There were 884 men listed and included as combat fatigue.
It was recorded that the 96th had 453 missing in action, and since the report was issued the number of missing in action has been reduced to 50 in 2005.
Looking at the WWII records from the Armed Ground Forces report of April 1946 it was reported from the official Army list of casualties of all Divisions, either in European or the Pacific Theatres of Operation, that Deadeyes were 10th from the top of all 83 Army Divisions.
Casualty figures for the 96th Readiness Command have not been confirmed at this time.
 

Many thanks go to Deadeye Historian, Donald Dencker, for all his contributions to this detailed report.

96th Losses Okinawa Sheets

Click Image for PDF copy

 

 
 
Okinawa 1945
 
Okinawa 1945
 
Okinawa 1945
     
Fresh Graves
 
 
 

Some Deadeye Images

See Also 96th Infantry Obituaries

Fallen General Buckner

     

Jack D. Elliott

Wallace Bitton

Lt Lyle Shreffler

Dalton Hunt

     

Murphy Broussard

Robert C. Shocker

Milford Birkmann

 

Gen Claudius Easley

Herb Paul

     

Dalton L. Hunt

James Luther Beckham

Britt C Cumming

 

Clarence Craft MOH

Louis J Denno

 

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