Tom, Virginia, 1969. Mandatory ROTC/Disabled Vets

I graduated high school in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1966 at the height of the war.  My first year of college at St. Norbert in DePere, I was required to take ROTC because the school was so small they needed all the freshmen and sophomores to mandatorily take it to...

Jonathan, Nevada, 1969. No. 250: A Zillion X-Rays

Graduated from U. of Wisconsin-Madison after the then usual 4 years in 1970. I considered dropping out in my freshman year to see if I could have more fun pursuing a writing career. (I was making a little money being a part-time campus reporter for the Milwaukee...

Mark, Wisconsin, 1970. No. 39: Boys in the Band

I was a senior at UW Madison and attended a basketball game the night of the lottery. I came home and my close friend who knew my birthday thought my number was in the two hundreds. The news came on and I found out I was No. 39. I was not the soldier type, not a...

Mark, Illinois, 1969. No. 273: Chicago Steel

Leading up to the draft lottery, the news media reminded us of the importance of the numbers. Those with low numbers would most certainly be drafted and soon. The lucky guys with higher numbers, basically above 180 would be "safe".On lottery night there were...

Jim, Minnesota, 1969. No. 2: Brothers in Arms

I was at UW-Madison during those "interesting" years. I was able to attend college via a generous scholarship through the NROTC. Following my graduation in January, 1970 with a degree in journalism, I was destined to go directly into the Navy. I did so,...