by | May 24, 2021 | Stories
I have no memory of the lottery drawing, but I guess I watched the event with my dorm mates. I was raised in a pacifist Protestant denomination and had no difficulty achieving conscientious objector (CO) status. COs with the I-O classification were required to perform...
by | Apr 17, 2021 | Stories
I’ll never forget that day, listening to the numbers being pulled that would determine my future. I was a senior at Penn State and a bunch of us were hovered over the radio holding our breath as each number was pulled. It seemed so surreal. After hearing my...
by | Apr 17, 2021 | Stories
Attended University of Toledo. Graduated with an Associate Degree in 1970. Moved to Michigan 1971 with the company I worked. In August of 1971 my father had a letter from SS and I told him to open it. I had to report to GreyHound Bus Station in Toledo at 6 am on...
by | Jan 26, 2021 | Stories
In the spring of 1969, I had received four years of student deferments, and expected to be immediately drafted. But I needed to stay in school for the upcoming fall semester to graduate. At this time, I heard a rumor that the Selective Service would not count those...
by | Nov 4, 2020 | Stories
After high school in 1969, I was footloose and lucky, not getting drafted. In 1970 I got serious, started college and got deferments. Then came the lottery, a lousy number, and the removal of the college deferment. I went for the physical, passing of course. It...
by | Oct 12, 2020 | Stories
My father served in the US Coast Guard during World War II. My grandfather was an Army soldier who was stationed in France during much of World War I. A few months before the first draft lottery, held midway through my senior year in college, Gramps told me, “I’d cut...
