The first Vietnam draft lottery was held on my birthday on December 1, 1969 - who knew? I had been in the Marine Corps for two years, was in Officers Candidate School working 16 hours a day in training, and if I knew it at the time, I had long since forgotten it.
December 1, 1969 marked the date of the first draft lottery held since 1942. This drawing determined the order of induction for men born between January 1, 1944 and December 31, 1950. A large glass container held 366 blue plastic balls containing every possible birth date and affecting men between 18 and 26 years old.
More about the draft lottery on this site.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_lottery_(1969)
You can check what your draft number on this site:
https://web.archive.org/web/20040413002021/http://www.landscaper.net/draft.htm
The draft lottery number for Dec 1 was 129. It did not matter to me since I had already enlisted two years previously. And with a number of 129 I probably would have been drafted.
I enlisted when I was 18 in 1966, and got drafted a few weeks after I enlisted - before I was to report for boot camp. I asked the Marine recruiter what to do, and he said ignore the Army. Which I did. And have been doing ever since.
Craig Hullinger
MPHS Jan 66
Marine Corps 1966-1999
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