Rick, California, 1969. No. 31: Razor's Edge Between Fates

I was still at Carolina, in law school, and at my old fraternity house the night of the lottery (Pi Lambda Phi). We had a pool, for a few dollars each, that was there for the guy with the lowest number.  No. 26, I think it was, and he got the money "to buy a...

Ed, North Carolina, 1969. No. 325: Guilt and Good Fortune

It’s been a lifelong feeling of guilt and good fortune. On that night in 1969 I camped out by the TV waiting for my number to come up. I fell asleep waiting. I woke up to a ringing phone and my sister congratulating me on pulling number 325. I drove to the...

Henry, Texas, 1969. No. 357: Promise Broken

I grew up in North Carolina and graduated from high school in 1966.  The local draft board assured me that I had four years of deferment for school, and that I could use the four years to complete undergrad school in three years and then get in one year of...

Gordon, Maryland, 1969. No. 144: Theatre Of The Absurd

I graduated from UNC in June of 69, and embarked on the frantic quest for a National Guard slot. With my future (including law school) on hold, I decided to conduct this campaign from Charlotte (a summer job) and then back in Chapel Hill during the fall. I must have...

Bill, New York, 1969. No. 271: More Than A Game Show

I was never an opponent of the war except as it pertained to me going. After delaying my physical for months I had been cleared for service.  And wow, they instituted the lottery and suspended additional inductions, me included. I remember watching the...

Dwayne, NC, 1969. No. 122: B-52s Over Vietnam

   I went to college at UNC in 1965 immediately following high school and thus was granted an education deferral until I approached graduation in 1969.  In the spring of 1969, before I had even graduated, I was called to get a preinduction...