I was a senior at the Y, in Provo, Utah, married, with one child. When I lost my 2-S deferment, by aging out, I had to do the Draft physical, which I passed, and I got notice that I could expect to be drafted very soon, based on age. When the induction notice came, I appealed it, asking for a hardship deferment, based on being married and having an infant. I knew my chances were between zero and zilch, but what the heck. This got my first induction date canceled.

I got word that the secretary of the Board had declined my appeal, and a new induction date was listed. This letter from the Board was in mid-November of ’69. I wrote back, asking for an appeal to the full board. I got word back that I was to appear on Thursday, December 04, 1969.

The Draft Lottery was held the evening of the 1st of December, and when I got home from playing church B-ball, my wife solemnly told me how she’d watched the televised proceedings and how when there were only two capsules left in the jar, some bastard pulled the one with my birth date! So I lost out on being the final date pulled…

Of course we were over the moon! I sent a telegram to my Draft Board the following day, telling them that I wasn’t going to show up and to please have the full board review the paperwork in my file and make their decision based on it. Of course they denied my appeal and said that, in typical government boilerplate, that they would process my induction according to rules and regulations, blah, blah, blah.

I never heard from my Draft Board again.

I was walking around campus with this great human interest story and obviously, since I wasn’t telling anyone about it, I was never interviewed. I didn’t think there was any point to “bragging” about my draft number and having survived two induction notices. I was already as happy as I could be.

Just how literal was it, that because of the lottery, so many of knew, at one fell swoop, that we’d truly dodged a bullet?