Draft Numbers Release For Free

On December 1, 1969, the United States held its first draft lottery, which gave young men a random number corresponding to their birthdays. Men with lower numbers were called first, and could possibly be sent to the Vietnam War. If you had been born in 1950, what would your draft number have been?

As the war went on, selective service requirements, deferments and exemptions changed in an effort to make the draft appear more fair. One of those changes was the institution of a draft lottery, which gave young men a random number between 1 and 366 corresponding to their birthdays.

The birth year of 1952 was the last draftees, with the assigned number 95 being the last number drafted, which represented those born on July 20, 1952.

The number of sequence numbers called for induction processing is based on the quota for personnel given by the Department of Defense. This system, based on random selection of birth dates, with the order of priority for reporting assigned in a random manner, is a fair and equitable method of calling men to serve.

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.

Draft lotteries were conducted again from 1971 to 1975 (for 1952 to 1956 births). The birth year of 1952 was the last draftees, with the assigned number 95 being the last number drafted, which represented those born on July 20, 1952.

As the war went on, selective service requirements, deferments and exemptions changed in an effort to make the draft appear more fair. One of those changes was the institution of a draft lottery, which gave young men a random number between 1 and 366 corresponding to their birthdays. Lower numbers were called first.