I never won a lottery before, and haven’t won one since, but in 1969 I won bigtime. I was a Number 1 – Number 1. I won the jackpot! How lucky was I? The first birthdate selected was my birthday, September 14 and if that weren’t lucky enough, the first letter drawn from the alphabet was the letter "J," the start of my last name. They selected letters after they selected birthdates to determine the order to call us up.
My 2-S deferment expired on June 1, 1970 and on that date like clockwork, I received papers to report for a physical in my hometown of St. Louis, MO. I went prepared with two doctors’ letters attesting to my history of asthma. The first letter didn’t work, but the second letter did – I received a 4-F and did not have to report for duty in the military and did not have to go to Viet Nam.