Larry, New York, 1969. No. 029: My Goose Was Cooked

I remember listening number by number that night and being surprised that no March birthdays had been called. Until No. 29 which was March 2. So I knew my goose was cooked and it was just a matter of time until I was over there.However, in late December 1970,...

Mark, Maryland, 1969. No. 246: Positively Euphoric

The night of the first lottery, when I was a freshman at Duke University, I was in the "Pep Band" at a Duke basketball game in Greensboro, NC.  The bus ride to the game (about an hour away) was interminable and deadly quiet, and we were all...

Dennis, New Jersey, 1969. No. 080: Flying Fighters

College sophomore sitting around the TV drinking beer, watching the lottery.  Probably 20 fraternity brothers, all of us gathered around.  Cheers and hollers when our birthdays were called.  Other then real low numbers like my roommate, No. 26, most of...

David, Tennessee, 1969. No. 001: Taking A Bow

It is early December and a group of us from Canterbury are in Greensboro for an early season Duke basketball game at the recently refurbished Greensboro Coliseum. We are sitting in the stands and the draft lottery begins.Transistor radios are in use but not real...

Joel, NC, 1969. No. 025: Life-Threatening Diagnosis

I remember the night we gathered around the Delta Sigma Phi Chapter Room in House S, eyes glued to the television. When No. 1 was chosen, the phone rang and a sad mother apologized to her unlucky son. As the night progressed, sighs could be heard, not only in the...

Jim, Pennsylvania, 1969. No. 187: Clattering Teletype

On the night of the draft lottery, I was working at the campus radio station at Duke University.  For all the men on campus, this was the news story of the decade.  As the birthdays and numbers came across the ancient, clattering teletype, the newsmen and...