THE
VIETNAM LOTTERIES
A lottery
drawing - the first since 1942 - was held on December 1,
1969, at Selective Service National Headquarters in
Washington, D.C. This event determined the order of call for
induction during calendar year 1970; that is, for
registrants born between January 1, 1944, and December 31,
1950. Reinstitution of the lottery was a change from the
"draft the oldest man first" method, which had been the
determining method for deciding order of call.
There
were 366 blue plastic capsules containing birth dates placed
in a large glass container and drawn by hand to assign
order-of-call numbers to all men within the 18-26 age range
specified in Selective Service law.
With
radio, film, and TV coverage, the capsules were drawn from
the container, opened, and the dates inside posted in order.
The first capsule - drawn by Congressman Alexander Pirnie
(R-NY) of the House Armed Services Committee - contained the
date September 14, so all men born on September 14 in any
year between 1944 and 1950 were assigned lottery number 1.
The drawing continued until all days of the year had been
paired with sequence numbers.
Photo,
above: Rep. Alexander Pirnie, R-NY, draws the first capsule
in
the lottery drawing held on December 1, 1969. The capsule
contained
the date, September 14.
LOTTERY DRAWINGS - Vietnam Era
| Table |
Date of
Drawing |
Applied to
Year of Birth |
Administrative
Processing Number |
| 1970 |
December 1, 1969 |
1944-1950
|
195
|
| 1971 |
July 1, 1970 |
1951
|
125
|
| 1972 |
August 5, 1971 |
1952
|
95
|
| 1973 |
February 2, 1972 |
1953
|
95
|
| 1974 |
March 8, 1973 |
1954
|
95
|
| 1975 |
March 20, 1974 |
1955
|
95
|
| 1976 |
March 12, 1975 |
1956
|
95
|
LOTTERY
TABLE INFORMATION
Administrative processing number (APN) denotes the highest
lottery numbers
called for each table year. The APN (highest
number) called for a physical was 215 for tables 1970
through 1976.
The last
draft call was on December 7, 1972, and the authority to
induct expired on June 30, 1973. The date of the last
drawing for the lottery was on March 12, 1975. Registration
with the Selective Service System was suspended on April 1,
1975, and registrant processing was suspended on January 27,
1976.
Registration
was resumed in July 1980 for men born in 1960 and later, and
is in effect to this
present time. Men are required to
register within 30 days of their 18th birthday.
HOW TO READ
THE LOTTERY TABLES
Each table
shows all the birth dates in a given year and the lottery
numbers assigned to those
dates. Read the tables like a
multiplication table. At the top of the table are the months
of the year.
In the first column, on the far left, are the
dates of the month. The numbers in the center represent
lottery numbers. Thus, the tabular format is set up to show
the random selection sequence, by month and day.
The order of
selection from among men born on the same date would be
determined by the order in which the first letters of their
last, first, and middle names were drawn. For example, for
Mr. Robert Brown, the alphabetical random selection sequence
number for “B” is 25 and “R” is 23.
ALPHABETICAL
SEQUENCE CHART
| 1 |
J |
| 2 |
G |
| 3 |
D |
| 4 |
X |
| 5 |
N |
| 6 |
O |
| 7 |
Z |
| 8 |
T |
| 9 |
W |
| 10 |
P |
| 11 |
Q |
| 12 |
Y |
| 13 |
U |
| 14 |
C |
| 15 |
F |
| 16 |
I |
| 17 |
K |
| 18 |
H |
| 19 |
S |
| 20 |
L |
| 21 |
M |
| 22 |
A |
| 23 |
R |
| 24 |
E |
| 25 |
B |
| 26 |
V |
Issued 1969
– Applied 1970 through 1976
Sequence
applied – First letter of last, first, middle name
Related
topics:
Classifications
The Lottery
Background of the Selective Service
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