BROWSE STORIES

Frederick, North Carolina, 1969. No. 9: The Polar Bear Command

This is the only lottery that I ever won, and probably the only one that I ever will.  I was a student in college & was reclassified because I stayed out of school for one semester and got married.  That made me eligible for the lottery.  Every time...

Craig, North Carolina, 1969. No. 2: I'll Wait Til The Next War

I was an English Ed student when the lottery occurred...my birthdate, Nov. 22, was the SECOND ping pong ball to pop up...I remember thinking "Oh hell."I had a brother-in-law-to-be who was an English major at Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory and he was one...

Jim, North Carolina, 1970. No. 195: Lessons Not Learned

I graduated from NC State University in 1970.  Some time during my undergraduate years (1966 - 1970) I had receieved my II-S classification which allowed me a student deferment.  Shortly after graduating in May of 1970 I received my I-A classification along...

Wade, North Carolina, 1969. No. 314: 30 Years In The Classroom

I had about a year left in college before graduation when the lottery took place.  My degree was to be in secondary education and it was my hope that I would be teaching in a high school somewhere in NC.  I remember watching the lottery on television and...

Bob, Virginia, 1969. No. 355: Motorcycle Lottery

I was in the infamous 1969 lottery during my first senior year at NC State.  My birth month was January and I ended up with a very high lottery number. But in the spring of 1967 I had signed the Army ROTC contract, so my draft lottery number didn't matter. I...

Will, North Carolina, 1969. No 47: The Best And Worst Of Times

I was a senior at NC State University and very ready to get out of there.  The Vietnam War made for very tense times and soldiers were getting killed.  Every night on the news there was film footage of battles and the number of dead for the...

Sherman, Illinois, 1969. No. 215: Never Forget That Night

Will never forget that night. I was at a small college in Iowa. Everyone, at least the 19 year olds, had ears glued to the radio, eyes to the tv. After the drawing, after the cheers, after the smashed tvs and radios, the bars were full; either you were...

Michael, North Carolina, 1969. No. 161: Quite A Ride

How did the draft lottery affect the choices I made in my life? Wow!Well, rather than graduate in Nuclear Engineering as planned in May, 1970, get married on June 6 and move to Charleston, SC, to live, raise a family and work at the Charleston Naval Shipyard, I...

Bobby, North Carolina, 1969: Pondering The Possibilities

The first lottery was held during my senior year in college.  My number was called in April, although I knew much earlier that it would be called before I graduated.  As with all seniors, I was in the process of interviewing for jobs.  The year before...

Glenn, California, 1969. No. 263: Pharmacy School

Basically, I was lucky not to be drafted during this time. If I had been born a day earlier (No. 184) or later (No. 71) I would have been drafted. Upon entering UCLA in 1967, I went to the Selective Service Board and received a student deferment. For the first two...

Stephen, California, 1969. No. 2: Headed For That War

At the time I was a student at Chico State University (in northern Calif). I guess I was fairly naive because I didn't pay much attention to the war & wasn't much concerned about the upcoming draft. Anyway, on the way to school the next day, I dropped by a...

Ike, Virginia, 1970. No. 207: Avoiding A Layoff

I was I-A in the draft.  I was born on Sept. 16th, so my number was 207.  In any case I reported to the draft board in Charlotte, went through the physical and passed with flying colors.  Because of my draft status, I could not get a job with a bank,...

Richard, Washington, DC, 1969. No. 300+: Mixed Emotions

I always had mixed emotions about the war. I had been in ROTC at NC State but was yelled at because I bounced when I marched. I was asked to take a semester off by State because of my grades and was working construction when I got my draft number which was well over...

Dwayne, Illinois, 1969. No. 102: Presidential Deferment

Thinking back 40 years ago.  I was finishing a Nursing degree at the University of Wisconsin, anticipating getting married, and contemplating working full time with the Student Christian group that I had become involved with as a sophmore.  I really...

Robert, Illinois, 1969. No. 165: The Decemberists

I was in the first lottery.  I was lucky.  I recall clearly that day.  I was sitting in the cafeteria at my college dorm listening to the radio broadcast of the numbers being called out, one by one.  I have a December birthday.  I was struck...

Pete, Georgia. Football Yes, Army No

My encounter with the draft was before I was to go N.C. State on a football scholarship in 1965. I had knee surgery in 1964 by Dr. Jack Huston in Columbus, Ga. which resulted in a a staple being placed in my knee. I was called to Atlanta for the army...

Robert, California, 1965. Another Kind of Lottery

There was no draft lottery in 1965 when I graduated from Cal.  I had a II-S student deferment for law school, and was slugging it out in my first year at UCLA School of Law.In October, 1965 my draft board reclassified me I-A and sent me a notice to take a...

Robert, Michigan, 1970. No. 45: Family Tradition of Service

I was eager to become part of the military.  My family dates back in the United States to prior 1800.  Every male of my family has been in the military and fought in every war and conflict since the War of 1812.  All four of my children including...

Randy, California, 1969. No. 3: Clogging The Court

On that fateful December 1, 1969, I learned that my birthday was picked No. 3 but it didn’t occur to me to panic, because I was young and stupid and just couldn’t imagine being drafted.  I left UCLA in the fall of 1970 and went off to Stanford for...

Thomas, California, 1969. No. 1: One Minute Too Soon

I was in the process of completing my Junior year at UCLA and was returning for dinner at my fraternity house from my part-time job while the lottery was in process.  When one of my fraternity brothers asked me when I was born (September 14th), he informed me...

Marc, Colorado, 1969. No. 152: Co-ed Tickle Fight

I graduated with a BA in theater arts from UCLA in March, 1970. My II-S student deferment was thus no longer valid and my lottery number was 152. Not long after I left school, the infamous "Greetings" letter arrived. Lucky for me, I was a lifelong...

Gil, Montana, 1969. No. 285: Miracle Hernia

Had a II-S student deferment in college from 1964 to 1968, took army physical Sept 1968 and they found a hernia I didn't know I had, making me temporarily "unacceptable" (the army offered to repair my hernia--I declined).  Lived with my hernia, being...

Walter, California, 1969. No. 254: All High, No Low

I was lucky.  I was in college with the usual deferment.  I got a "good" number.  So the draft did not affect me.  Oddly enough, almost all my close high school buddies and my four college roommates had high numbers.  In fact, I...

Carl, California, 1969. No. 174: Second Priority

My lottery number of 174 was too low to feel safe about being drafted, but high enough to hope for the best, depending on any escalation in the war. My II-S deferment was good until 1972, when I would graduate. As luck would have it, that year the concept of...

Jim, California, 1969. No. 310: Born Again At 30,000 Feet

I was in the Peace Corps in South America at the time I learned of the results of the 1969 lottery. I read about it in Time magazine at 30,000 feet over the Amazon Jungle on a flight from Rio to Caracas. When I learned I was number 310, I had the feeling I was 'born...

Lance, California, 1969. No. 306: In The Vanguard

I remember the draft lottery vividly.   I was 21 and a senior at UCLA.  I had a history of activism dating to co-founding at least one BSU and starting my writing career at 18, having delivered many culturally-relevant essays and poetry for a variety of...

Jerry, California, 1970. No. 189: Far From Radical

I registered with my local draft board on March 21, 1969.  I was a full-time student at UCLA and consequently was classified II-S.  My lottery number was 189.  Like many students my age I was opposed to the war, but I was far from radical and believed...

Lowell, California, 1969. No. 281: Over-Corrective Lenses

This is absolutely true. I graduated UCLA in June, 1969, and was about to start graduate school in September when I received my notice to appear for the pre-induction physical. I knew this was coming -- since I had lost my student deferment -- but panicked...

Bill, Texas, 1969. No. 266: To Do It Over Again

It was the Spring of 1967 and I was concentrating on graduating from high school.  The war was probably the third or fourth thing on my mind.  First of all, I wanted some time to play and celebrate graduating before heading off to college for more play and...

David, California, 1969. No. 300+: The Law Of Our Fathers

I was part of the first every lottery, December 1, 1969, if I recall correctly. I was a freshman at UCLA, and had just rushed for Sigma Chi fraternity, Delta Eta chapter. On that night (I seem to recall a Sunday evening), all the brothers in the house gathered as we...

John, Idaho, 1969. No. 267: Beware The Agenda

I was I-A from having dropped out of college briefly before I transferred to UC Berkley (Bezerkly back then). On the day of the lottery,  5 or 6 friends gathered together to watch. It was like a sports contest with teams of 1. We alternately cheered winners...

Steven, California, 1970. No. 342: A Nervous Time

Before the lottery, I went through a nervous time when I failed a Spanish class at UCLA and, due to insufficent progress (i.e., I did not become a sophomore in the required time), lost my student deferment.  The draft office at UCLA said I could get my deferment...

Lloyd, North Carolina, 1969. No. 332: Access To Orthodontia

I was in my second year at UCLA, on a student deferment, of course, and I was a member of a fraternity.  We were all subject to the first lottery, and were all congregated around the radio as the numbers were being called.  A frat brother who was born...

David, Rhode Island, 1970. No. 264: Correspondence Overload

Starting in late 1969, I became active in the anti-draft movement.  At the time I was a student at USC and transferred to UCLA in 1970.  I led a small group in the San Fernando Valley that decided the best way to fight the draft was to adhere to the draft...

Wes, Minnesota, 1969. No. 353: All My Trigger Fingers

I had 2 years of college as II-S classification, then dropped out to make more money, and got I-A in a week's time.  That was in 1968.  In 1969, it was still going through the mill on how to do the draft lottery, and I got inducted in Oct. 31, 1969, and...

Marc, California, 1969. No. 259: Bostonian Interlude

A large crowd of dorm denizens gathered in the front lobby of UCLA's Hedrick Residence Hall, anxiously awaiting the announcement of their numbers piped in over the PA system.  With each birthday read someone celebrated or moaned.   I...

Andy, California, 1969. No. 264: Nervous Parents

My parents were particularly nervous.  Both of their boys (my older brother Mark and I) were in the very first lottery draw.  They professed at the time they would move to Canada if necessary, but we also had college (San Diego State for Mark,...

Bill, California, 1969. No. 330: Privileged Position

With a lottery number well over 300, and being enrolled at college, I was fortunate not to be forced to resist or submit to the draft.  While I was active in our campus student political organization that worked against the war and for civil rights, I suffered no...

Alan, California, 1969. No. 23: Grandfather Mike And The Senator

My lottery number was 23. I immediately decided I had to find a way out of the selection process.  With my grandfather, I started a letter writing campaign to then Senators Tunney and Cranston. Through my grandfather's efforts and my bad knees that I only made...

Peter, California, 1969. No. 312: No Interruption

I was a sophomore undergraduate at UCLA with a II-2 deferment.  Student deferments were becoming more limited, so there was concern.  When the lottery was announced I started to make preliminary arrangements to go into a local Army Reserve unit as there...

Spencer, California, 1969, No. 69: Trick Knee

     The reason the stories about the lottery only go until 1972 was because the draft law only ran until June of 1973.  My student deferment ran out in June of 1972, and of course Uncle Sam sent me his love note to report for my draft...

Steve, California, 1969. No. 330: What Lady Luck Would Bring

Once the government announced that they were discontinuing the student deferment, I obtained the application for conscientious objector status and also seriously contemplated moving to Canada.  I had protested the war, marched in San Francisco and Los Angeles,...

Michael, Virginia, 1969. No. 230: Dropping Draft Cards Off The Pier

By the time of the lottery in 1969, I was exempt from the draft because I had already completed my active duty with the US armed forces. This doesn't mean I was unaware or indifferent to the lottery. I was pleased to see that rich kids would have to sweat a bit to...

Jon, California, 1969. No. 106: Citizen's Obligation

I was an undergrad at UCLA in 1969.  I was opposed to the war and an anti-war protester.  As the lottery approached, my father asked me what I would do if I got a low number (meaning immediately drafted).  I said I would serve because although I was...

David, California, 1970. No. 292: Same Birthday

I was talking with one of my MD colleagues in 1988 about the Vietnam War and the draft.  He said: they weren't going to draft me because my lottery number was 292.  I then responded stating his birthday.  He thought I had memorized all 365 of the...

John, California, 1969. No. 245: The Conscription Nightmare

Making it into the last-to-be-called third of the 366 dates, albeit literally just barely, was a huge relief for me and my girlfriend (now my wife of 35 years), and it allowed me to stop worrying about contingency plans. During the Iraq war, my wife and I...

Harvey, California, 1969. No. 250: Numbers You Remember

It's funny the numbers that you remember in life. Your social security number, your first phone number growing up. I even remember my brother's Air Force ID #.  And, I will always remember being 250 in the draft.I was a sophmore at Los Angeles City College with a...

Paul, California, 1969. No. 364: Intense Partying

I was a sophomore at UCLA in 1969 when the first draft lottery was held.  I lived with three other guys in an apartment just off campus in an area known as the student ghetto (remember, this is the Westwood Village part of LA, so take ghetto with a grain of...

Howard, Wisconsin, 1969. Didn't Look No Different

It changed my life.  I had bad eyesight, enough to fail the reserves but not the draft.  I decided not to chance the lottery and wanted to get into the reserves but I had no "connections".  I had been to Israel in '67 and volunteered to fight...