Art, North Carolina, 1969. No. 354: Mixed Feelings All Around

I was finishing up my final semester at NCSU… had been in Air Force ROTC in anticipation of going into the service. The lottery changed everything at the time, and perhaps for my life. I had held campus interviews and was offered a position at RCA Computer...

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...

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...

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....