I listened to the lottery drawing on the radio and knew the birthdays of my classmates. Several of them had low numbers. Mine was 288, so I was safe. My low-numbered friends enlisted to have a choice of what they wanted to do. At the time they were saying about half would be taken, up to about No. 185. I have wondered what would have become of me if I had gone over there instead. Certainly would have had a much different life, not necessarily good. I remember we had classmates who had stayed back in school and were given physicals in their junior year, which fortunately they didn’t pass for various medical reasons. Had they passed they would have been taken when they graduated in 1970 like so many of the boys their age. Horrible times, especially for those who served.
