BROWSE STORIES

My lottery story is really not a lottery story at all, but one of irony and bad timing. My birthday came up No. 363, so it would seem that I was not going to be drafted. Technically, that is true. The technicality is that I had entered active duty in the US Army...

When the lottery was announced, I was in Hong Kong, where I had gone to high school and where I had registered for the SSS at the U.S. Consulate and was appointed to Local Board 100 (Foreign). I was working as a photographer, my first job out of UNC. I was pretty busy...

What I remember about that time was that the law seemed to change every year.  When I started at UNC in 1965, being in school was all you needed for an exemption.  Later in '66 or '67 I recall going to Greensboro to take a written exam to allow me to...

I arrived at Carolina in January '68 after serving in Vietnam from April '66 to May of '67 as a Marine foot soldier. The transition from Vietnam and the Marines to Chapel Hill was surreal. People were friendly and I was glad to be a student. When students took over...

I did not feel that my lottery number was high enough. I had a wife and baby, but that did not defer me since I had had a student deferment. All the army reserves were full and had waiting lists. One of my fellow management trainees told me about a Marine Corps...

So in my first year at Queens college I "win" the lottery with No. 74. My friends and I celebrate our particular luck at our annual beach football game with our sweatshirts showing our numbers, clearly the soon to be dead (low numbers) against the long...

After graduating from UNC-CH in August of 1969, like many of my peers Vietnam was in my future. My first (non-military) job after college was training mine/trip-wire dogs for duty in Nam. I began to realize what these dogs were being trained to do was important, and...

With such a low number I was called in for my army physical in February and passed (like everybody else). Since I had no desire to join the Army and go to Vietnam I started exploring alternatives. I considered joining the Navy. I even passed their physical, but it was...

When the lottery was conducted December 1, 1969, I was preparing to report to Ft. Jackson after January 1 for my 3-year enlistment.  I don't recall watching the actual process, and may have just read it in the paper the next day since it...

While I am not a complete pacifist, I knew I would never serve in Vietnam. While I honor those who believed and sacrificed in that war, I wasn't one of them. I considered the war wrong, immoral, and knew I would never fight if they dragged me there. I considered...

Your question recalls the turning point of my life. On December 1, 1969, I was a recent University of North Carolina graduate working in the news department of WAYS radio in Charlotte, with a draft eligible bulls eye on my back. Literally and figuratively, I was a...

I graduated from Carolina in 1969.  Observing the angst among those around me about the Draft was humorous, because I was in Navy ROTC.  I was already committed to the military and as a Naval Officer.  I spent nearly 13 months in Vietnam and wound up...

Since I had a student deferment until June 1969 and graduated in May 1969 and had no physical reasons for deferment or rejection, by the time the lottery occurred on 12/1/1969, it was not relevant to me.  I joined the U.S. Army Reserve in Feb 1969, my senior year...

I received my "greetings" just 42 days after getting my UNC degree.  A colleague of my wife's suggested I actually enlist, for the full three years, to guarantee a school.  I did and never regretted it.  I also took part in the "delayed...

I graduated in June of 1969, and was in the last group to be drafted before the lottery went into effect. The Durham Draft Board was so efficient that my draft notice and my official diploma came in the same mail. I was one of an elite group of people to receive...

I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in June 1969 and enrolled at Columbia Law School in September 1969.  Following my first semester in Law School, I was notified to report for my physical at Fort Hamilton.  I passed the physical and my II-S student deferment...

I was not subject to the lottery, as I had already enlisted before the lottery began on 1 December 1969 to avoid being drafted and having no choice in the matter.  Very shortly after graduating from UNC I visited my local draft board and basically asked one...

The draft lottery changed my life.  In 1969 I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and took a teaching job, mainly because it offered an occupational deferral.  But teaching was not my ambition and I needed some career focus.  The draft lottery gave me the...

Monday, 1 December 1969 - How could I ever forget that date as I turned 19 that very day.  I was hoping that the draw would be at twelve noon which I figured would make me not technically eligible.  BUT, it had to be during primetime.I knew I was...

When I graduated from UNC in 1969, I had a draft classification of I-A. My father was a manufacturers representative and was responsible for business in the Southeast. He was suffering from complications with diabetes and was physically unable to drive and transact...

It had to be July or August of 1971.  On number day, I was at work.  My mother worked second shift at the same company and told me my number.  She was none too happy.  Since I was not too serious about school at the time, I decided to join the...

I graduated from UNC in May 1969 without an acceptance to medical school.  I figured the chance of being drafted was high, but I was willing to do just about anything to avoid interrupting my pursuit of a medical degree.  I underwent an...

I had graduated from the University of North Carolina and was attending graduate school at Yale. My birthday is in February and, as is well known, February was extremely over-represented in the early numbers of the first lottery. I remember walking through the Yale...

I had several near misss with the Vietnam situation during my stay at Carolina.The first was in 1966, during my sophomore year. Every male student received mistakenly re-classified draft notices (from II-S to I-A) from the Cumberland County Draft  Board on a...

I managed to keep a II-S deferment until I graduated college in the summer of 1972.  I received my draft notice in October '72 and immediately applied for the Army National Guard.The Guard could afford, at the time, to be VERY picky about who they allowed in, but...

To make my story short, my lottery number was never called.  Thus, I did not serve.  However, I had other experiences regarding the Vietnam War era, which I will pass on for what they are worth.In the fall 1965, I lived in a graduate dorm at UNC-CH.  I...

1969 was the year of my college graduation.  Being the son of a career Army veteran who served in WW II, Korea and Vietnam, when all this started I had no solid feelings of my own about Vietnam.  During the rough early times at school, I often...

At the time of the first lottery, I was in my first year of theological school.  I was genuinely interested in campus ministry and working toward a Master of Divinity degree, a three-year program.   I had to admit, though, that the IV-D status given to...

I was not too concerned about the lottery because I was going to medical school and would receive an automatic deferment. My childhood friend who shared the same birthday as me was accepted to law school but declined and joined the National Guard.  He was...

In 1971 I was driving an auto parts delivery truck when I heard that my lottery number was 002. I had just passed over the Jackson Ave. viaduct in Memphis, TN. That afternoon I called a friend whose Daddy was stationed at the Millington Navy base at Millington, TN....

In December of 1969 I was a second year student at Ohio University.  Not really ready for school, poor and confused (very naive).  My Dad had died in 1966 and was a veteran of WW II.  I remember watching the lottery drawing on TV and laughing when my...

In the spring of 1968, my senior year of high school, I had cartilage and ligaments taken out of my right knee due to a soccer accident. Having no money for college, I began work at a local bank.In early June of 1969, I heeded my draft board's summons and appeared at...

I had a student deferment and was attending Central Connecticut State when I received the low lottery number. I don't recall much other than being at the college that night with everyone trading their "scores". I remember an air of unreality getting that low...

I was barely holding onto my student deferment in 1969 when the first draft lottery was held. My grades had been poor and working a full-time job to support my education wasn't helping.  I knew if I drew a low number I'd be called and of course was hoping for a...

Why are you polishing your shoes so much? I remember as a freshman, when I had a student deferment given to me in 1968 which would last through the lottery, that I used to tease my freshman roommate, Roy, who was a high school buddy.  He was in ROTC and had...

I was a senior in college during the first draft lottery in late 1969. In the fraternity house, we had a $1.00 entry fee for a pool to reward the "winner" of the lottery - but the guy with the highest number had to match the pot. It was over quickly for me...

My lottery story is more about a friend of mine.  At the time, we were enrolled as students at Kansas State University.  The night of the lottery, a group of us attended the K-State basketball game and afterwards, returned to our residence where some other...

I was a student at NC State University and had a student deferment--II-S. My expectations at that time were to graduate in 1972 and be drafted.  If drafted, I would have served my country without hesitation.  But I really lucked out in the lottery, 361...

My birthday is February 14. Being born on Valentine's day never caused me any problems, until the draft lottery. I always felt bad for my cousin who was born on Christmas day and never really got birthday presents separate from Christmas presents, but I didn't have...

I still remember what I was doing on the date the draft lottery I was involved in was drawn on 2 February 1972.  I had attended a high school basketball game.  My team won, but I can't remember the score.  I walked home in snow from the basketball game,...

I was a student at NC State University and was concerned that I was going to be drafted so I joined the Army Reserve and was on active duty when the lottery occurred. My number was 352 which meant that I would never have been drafted. Of course I could not have known...

I grew up on a farm in the small town of Carlock, Illinois.  I told my Dad if he would buy a radio for the tractor, I would plow all night, plus I could listen to the draft lottery.  I plowed for about an hour when the lottery was starting, then chickened...

     I was in Bragaw dorm at NCSU with my other suite mates listening to the lottery draw.  My birthday was May 11th which forever branded me with the scarlet number 38 on my chest.  The rest of the evening was spent finishing off a half...

I was a college undergraduate at the time of the first lottery and after drawing No. 38 I was able to defer induction until I graduated. I was drafted in late 1971. After Basic Training and being trained as a combat medic at Fort Sam Houston, Texas I was...

I was a silent Vietnam war protestor.  With my low number I was resigned to the fact I'd be toting a rifle in the Vietnam rice paddies in 1970.  When I was required to report in the Spring of 1970 for the induction physical at my draft board in...

At the time of the lottery I was a Sigma Chi pledge (Delta Epsilon Chapter), NC State University, and did not have the luxury of listening to any of the details on the evening of December 1st, but that was of no real consequence to me.  Having watched the nightly...

I was 18 years old. I had flunked out of college my first year. I had no job. I felt I was going to be drafted as soon as I turned 19, regardless of the lottery. I joined the US Army before I turned 19. I was in basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky when my mother...

I was waiting to go to a rehearsal with the then up-and-coming Manhattan Transfer vocal group. I wasn't even quite sure what lottery meant other than random. I was 18 years old. When September 26th, the day before my birthday, was drawn and it was 034, my heart...

I remember lottery night very distinctly, during my first year in college. None of my immediate family had served in the armed forces, mainly because we were farmers and gained exemptions during the world wars. I had friends on campus from my home town and we all...

On 1 December 1969, I was assigned draft lottery number 147, which pretty much guaranteed that I would be called up around the time of my twenty-third birthday in early April 1970.  When I got my preinduction physical notice to appear in Los Angeles, I requested...