- Aug 2 Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek, Austrian composer (Donna Diana), dies at 85
- Aug 2 Pietro Mascagni, Italian opera composer (Cavalleria Rusticana), dies at 81
- Aug 6 Hiram Johnson, American progressive politician, US Senator, Governor of California (1911-17), dies at 78
- Aug 6 Prince Wu of Korea (b. 1912)
- Aug 9 Harry Hillman, American athlete (Olympic gold 400m, 200/400m hurdles 1904; silver 400m hurdles 1908), dies of coronary thrombosis at 63
Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945)
Aug 10 American rocket pioneer (invented and built the first liquid-fueled rocket), dies of throat cancer at 62
- Aug 15 Korechika Anami, Japanese War Minister (who opposed surrender in WWII), commits suicide a day after signing Japan's surrender at 58
- Aug 16 Nico Richter, Dutch composer, dies at 29
- Aug 16 Takijiro Ohnishi, led Japanese kamikaze pilots (harakiri), dies
- Aug 17 Gino Marinuzzi, Sr., Italian opera conductor (Wagner; Puccini), and composer (Symphony in A), dies at 61
- Aug 17 Pater Bleijs [Louis], Dutch catholic priest and resistance fighter in WWII, dies in car accident at 39
- Aug 18 Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian revolutionary and nationalist, dies of injuries from a plane crash at 48
- Aug 19 Tomas Burgos, Chilean philanthropist (founder of Villa Lo Burgos), dies at 69
- Aug 20 Alexander Roda Roda, Austrian writer, dies at 73
- Aug 22 Ida Henrietta Hyde, American physiologist who invented the micro-electrode and the first woman allowed to do research at Harvard Medical School and to be elected to the American Physiology Society, dies at 87
- Aug 25 John Birch, American intelligence officer and missionary (b. 1918)
- Aug 25 Willis Augustus Lee, American World War II admiral (Guadalcanal) and sport shooter (5 Olympic golds 1920), dies of a heart attack at 57 while being ferrying him out to his flagship USS Wyoming off the coast of Maine
- Aug 26 Franz Werfel, Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet (Mirror Man, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh), dies at 54
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide