Bruce, North Carolina, 1970. No. 253: Friday the 13th

    I had a medium high lottery number (253 I think) and was concerned but not overly fearful of being called up for the draft.  One day in the fall of 1970 I had a particularly stressful and hectic day at work and was really worn out when I...

Dave, North Carolina, 1969. No. 93: Thank you Walter Cronkite!

My student deferment expired in 1972. I had lottery number 93 and had received a notice to report for a physical. One day in December I was watching Walter Cronkite, and he announced that the draft was ending that month after they drafted up through number...

Bob, North Carolina, 1969. No. 14: From Amor to Alcohol

The first lottery didn’t have as much visibility with me as the UNC basketball game that night to which I took an attractive freshman. Afterwards, she and I returned to my dorm where I was a resident advisor. Upon stepping off the elevator, some of my inebriated...

Jeff, North Carolina, 1969. No. 1! Best "Foot" Forward

I remember the lottery very well. I was a sophomore at Carolina and my older brother was serving a tour in Vietnam. The night of the draft everyone was glued to the TV.  I didn’t have to watch long, for my birthdate(9-14-50) was the first number picked. I...

Pat, North Carolina, 1970. No. 338: No future as an MP

My uncle was in the reserve and also worked in the civilian portion of the military as a recruiter. His MOS was that of military police. At the time, I was a light weight wrestler at Carolina. The military guy that interviewed me said that I would be...

Michael, Maryland, 1969. Lucky No. 329.

My lottery number was 329. I was against the war and I never had to make the difficult decision of what to do. I did give it some thought, though. If I were drafted, I would have tried to work in a medical capacity, since I was pre-med. I was extremely lucky.