My father was a career Army officer. I had polio in Puerto Rico in 1951 at age 4. When I turned 18 I went to the draft board for my physical and was declared IV-F due to the polio.
When the draft came up in 1969, I was a senior at the University of Kentucky, but knew I wouldn’t be called up. I had mixed feelings about it as three of my high school football teammates had already given their lives in Viet Nam. My number came up as 004. The number 4 has been my favorite number since I was young.