Death Toll: 39 From IL Killed So Far in Iraq

By Rachelle Bowden in News on Sep 13, 2004 11:34AM

Last week the U.S. military's death toll in Iraq supassed 1,000 and the Tribune took a closer look at the 39 from Illinois were among those killed. Of all the states, Illinois comes in 5th highest for the number of Iraqi war casualties with about 2 Illinois residents per month for the last 19 months being killed.

Illinois has the 5th highest number of Iraqi war casualties in the US, behind California, Texas, Pennsylvania and Florida. Half of the Illinoisians who died were from towns with populations between 10,000 and 130,000. Most of the rest were from tiny towns with populations under 10,000. Only 4 were from Chicago.

The breakdown in the cause of death goes like this: Accidents - 8, Convoy Attacks - 6, Helicopter Crashes - 6, Mortar Attacks - 5, Roadside Bombs - 3, Illness - 3, Hostile Fire - 1.

That doesn't add up to 39, but that's what the Trib is reporting.

The DOD doesn't release racial backgrounds so the racial breakdown of those killed from IL couldn't be calculated. We do know that nationally, 70% were white, 13% black, and 12% Hispanic. The youngest of the fallen from Illinois was just 19 years old. The oldest was also the oldest in America, at 59. Age 26 was both the Illinois and national average.

That's a lot of numbers to process.. but Chicagoist kind of gets off on statistics, even if they're sad and morbid ones. We also love charts.. and maps. Here's a map showing where those who died who were from IL were specifically from.. and another graphic showing national stats. We wish that none of these numbers would change and that it would just end, but realistically the numbers are just going to increase.