Of the more than 172,000 Canadians who reported wounds during the war, medical authorities classified approximately 138,000 as battle casualties. The rest were injuries suffered away from the war zone. Of the wounded who survived, 3,461 men and one woman had a limb amputated. One soldier, Curly Christian, was the only Canadian to lose all four limbs and survive. No reliable method existed for tracking or treating psychological casualties, but authorities identified over 9,000 Canadians as suffering from “shell shock”.
Over the course of WWII, more than 1.1 million Canadians served in the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Canadian Air Force, and in forces across the Commonwealth. More than 44,000 lost their lives and 54,000 were wounded.