National Archives and Records Administration
College Park, Maryland 20740-6001
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Record Group 330
Series: Records on Military Personnel Who Died, Were Missing in Action or Prisoners of War as a Result of the Vietnam Conflict (CACCF)
What information is in these records?
This series, otherwise known as the Combat Area Casualties Data Base or CACDB, contains records of U.S. military officers and soldiers who died as a result of either a hostile or nonhostile occurrence or who were missing in action or prisoners of war in the Southeast Asian combat area during the Vietnamese Conflict.
Why are these records created?
The agency created this series as the official repository for records on U.S. military casualties in the Southeast Asian combat areas during the Vietnam Conflict and used the database as a source for official information about U.S. military personnel casualties related to the Vietnam Conflict and for disseminating statistical data concerning them.
Why are there two files in this series on AAD?
This series has two files: (1) the Combat Area Casualties Current File, or CACCF; and (2) Combat Area Casualties Returned Alive File, or CACRAF. The CACCF contains final records of fatal casualties and records of persons who were captured or missing in action and who were subsequently declared dead. The CACRAF contains final records of persons who were prisoners of war or missing in action and who were subsequently repatriated.
If the Vietnam Conflict ended in 1974, why do these records end in 1998?
The records of the CACDB are current as of December 1998, the last time the Department of Defense (DoD) transferred a copy of the CACDB into the custody of NARA. They include records of personnel who died or were declared dead post-1974. The DoD continues to maintain and revise the records of the CACDB and plans to transfer an updated CACDB to NARA which we will then make available to researchers.
Why are there pound signs in the Returned Alive file?
Following FOIA exemption (b)(6) for personal information, NARA staff masked values in the "Social Security or Service Number" and the "Religion" fields with ######### and ##.
November 4, 2005
NARA's web site is http://www.archives.gov
