NUMBER 257

In 1969, the Selective Service System of the United States conducted two lotteries to determine the order of call to military service in the Vietnam War for men born during 1950. "The draft" occurred during a longer period of conscription in the United States, controlled by the President, from just before World War II to 1973.

The days of the year were represented by the numbers from 1 to 366 written on slips of paper. The slips were placed in separate plastic capsules that were mixed in a shoebox and then dumped into a deep glass jar. Capsules were drawn from the jar one at a time.

The first day number drawn was 257 (September 14), so all registrants with that birthday were assigned lottery number 1. All men of draft age (born 1944 to 1950) who shared a birthdate would be called to serve at once. In fact the first 195 birthdates were later called to serve in order 1 to 195. The last one called was September 24 (lottery number 195). This last number saw the largest number of men drafted to serve in Vietnam.

On the same day a second lottery was held to construct a random permutation of the 26 letters of the alphabet. Among men with the same birthdate, any year 1944 to 1950, the order of induction was determined by the permutation ranks of the first letters of their last, first, and middle names. Anyone with initials "JJJ" would have been first within the shared birthdate; anyone with initials "VVV" would have been last.

On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall there are 171 names of dead soldiers who were born on the 14^th September. As to the 14^th September itself, 112 died on this day.

I was rather lucky when it came to the draft. I was initially classified in 1963 as I-Y, which meant, “Registrant available for military service, but qualified only in case of war or national emergency. Usually given to registrants with medical conditions that were limiting but not disabling (examples: high blood pressure, mild muscular or skeletal injuries or disorders, skin disorders, severe allergies, etc.).” This class was discontinued in December, 1971 and its members were reclassified as 4-F.”

I noted that I could only be called up in case of war or national emergency. The action in Vietnam was never classified as a war, but merely a ‘Police Action’, so I could not have been called up on that ground, but was it a National Emergency?

A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale for suspending rights and freedoms, even if guaranteed under the constitution. Such declarations usually come during a time of natural or man made disaster, during periods of civil unrest, or following a declaration of war or situation of international or internal armed conflict.

The Tonkin Gulf Resolution (officially, Asia Resolution, Public Law 88-408) was a joint resolution, which the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution is of historical significance because it gave President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of conventional military force in Southeast Asia. Specifically, the resolution authorized the President to do whatever necessary in order to assist "any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty." This included involving armed forces; however, I do not recall the action being declared a National Emergency.

I was at one stage asked to return to the United States for reclassification or induction into the Armed Services. I was never reclassified.