Killed in action

{{Short description|Military casualty classification used for deaths of personnel}}

{{For|the symbol used to represent losses|Dagger (mark)}}

File:Omaha-beach-cemetery.jpg, near Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, honoring American troops who sacrificed in Europe during World War II]]

Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action.{{cite web|title=U.S. Department of Defense Dictionary: killed in action|url=http://ww.dtc.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/data/k/03003.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927022355/http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/data/k/03003.html|archive-date=2012-09-27|access-date=2007-02-04}} The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA did not need to have fired their weapons, but only to have been killed due to hostile attack. KIAs include those killed by friendly fire during combat, but not from incidents such as accidental vehicle crashes, murder, or other non-hostile events or terrorism.{{cite web|title=Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Frequently Asked Questions|url=https://www.hrc.army.mil/content/Army%20Casualty%20and%20Mortuary%20Affairs%20Frequently%20Asked%20Questions#2|access-date=2024-11-06}} KIA can be applied both to front-line combat troops and naval, air, and support forces.

Furthermore, the term died of wounds (DOW) is used to denote personnel who reached a medical treatment facility before dying.{{cite web|title=Understanding Combat Casualty Care Statistics|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA480496.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020035329/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA480496.pdf|archive-date=2020-10-20|publisher=Defense Technical Information Center}} The category died of wounds received in action (DWRIA) is also used for combat related casualties which occur after medical evacuation.{{cite web|title=DoD Instruction Number 1300.18|url=https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/130018p.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126213738/https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/130018p.pdf|archive-date=2019-01-26|publisher=DPAA}}

PKIA means presumed killed in action. This term is used when personnel are lost in battle, initially listed missing in action (MIA), but after not being found, are later presumed to have not survived.{{cite web|url=http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg69/Pages/namesake.aspx|title=USS Milius — Named in honor of Navy pilot Captain Paul L. Milius|work=public.navy.mil|publisher=US Navy|access-date=10 January 2018|archive-date=12 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112160258/http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg69/Pages/namesake.aspx|url-status=dead}} This is typical of naval battles or engagements on other hostile environments where recovering bodies is difficult. A vast number of soldiers killed in action went unidentified in World War I, like John Kipling, the son of British poet Rudyard Kipling, prompting the formation of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Jonathan |title=The Great War and its aftermath: The son who haunted Kipling |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-great-war-and-its-aftermath-the-son-who-haunted-kipling-413795.html |access-date=3 May 2018 |work=The Independent |date=28 August 2006 |archive-date=3 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503182230/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-great-war-and-its-aftermath-the-son-who-haunted-kipling-413795.html |url-status=live }}