What happened on your birthday?

What’s Your Vietnam War Draft Lottery Number?

The Vietnam War draft lottery ran from 1969 to 1972. If you were born on October 17, would your number have been called?

  • Vietnam War 1969 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    288
  • Vietnam War 1970 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    290
  • Vietnam War 1971 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    188
  • Vietnam War 1972 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    177

Read on to learn more about the Vietnam war draft lottery.





more events on October 17

  • 2003

    Taipei 101 is completed in Taipei, becoming the world’s tallest high-rise.

  • 2001

    Rehavam Ze’evi, Israeli tourism minister and founder of the right-wing Moledet party, assassinated by a member of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); he was the first Israeli minister ever assassinated.

  • 1994

    Dmitry Kholodov, a Russian journalist, assassinated while investigating corruption in the armed forces; his murkier began a series of killings of journalists in Russia.

  • 1989

    The worst earthquake in 82 years strikes San Francisco bay area minutes before the start of a World Series game there. The earthquake registers 6.9 on the Richter scale–67 are killed and damage is estimated at $10 billion.

  • 1972

    Peace talks between Pathet Lao and Royal Lao government begin in Vietnam.

  • 1968

    Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician, leader of Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers; oldest son of reggae great Bob Marley.

  • 1960

    Rob Marshall, theater and film director, choreographer; awards include 4 Emmys and an Academy Award for Best Picture (Chicago, 2002).

  • 1958

    Alan Jackson, country singer with over 60 million records sold worldwide; his many awards include 2 Grammys and 16 Country Music Association awards; “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning”; “Don’t Rock the Jukebox.”

  • 1956

    The nuclear power station Calder Hall is opened in Britain. Calder Hall is the first nuclear station to feed an appreciable amount of power into a civilian network.

  • 1948

    Margo Kidder, actress; best known for playing Lois Lane in four Superman movies between 1978 and 1987.

  • 1946

    Adam Michnik, Polish historian and editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wybocza, Poland’s largest newspaper; named Europe’s Man of the Year by La Vie magazine (1989).

  • Michael Hossack, drummer for the Doobie Brothers band

  • 1942

    Gary Puckett, singer, songwriter; lead singer of Gary Puckett & The Union Gap (“Woman, Woman”; “Young Girl”).

  • 1941

    The U.S. destroyer Kearney is damaged by a German U-boat torpedo off Iceland; 11 Americans are killed.

  • 1938

    Evel Knievel, U.S. daredevil motorcycle stunt man.

  • 1933

    Due to rising anti-Semitism and anti-intellectualism in Hitler’s Germany, Albert Einstein immigrates to the United States. He makes his new home in Princeton, N.J.

  • 1930

    Jimmy Breslin, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, author and columnist.

  • 1918

    Rita Hayworth, film actress.

  • 1915

    Arthur Miller, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Death of a Salesman, A View from the Bridge).

  • 1913

    Zeppelin LII explodes southeast of central Berlin, killing 28.

  • 1903

    Nathaneal West, novelist and screenwriter (Miss Lonely Hearts, The Day of the Locust).

  • 1895

    Doris Humphrey, modern dance choreographer.

  • 1877

    Brigadier General Alfred Terry meets with Sitting Bull in Canada to discuss the Indians’ return to the United States.

  • 1863

    General Ulysses S. Grant is named overall Union Commander of the West.

  • 1859

    Childe Hassam, American impressionist painter and illustrator.

  • 1849

    Composer and pianist Frederic Chopin dies in Paris of tuberculosis at the age of 39.

  • 1821

    Alexander Gardner, American photographer who documented the Civil War and the West.

  • 1815

    Napoleon Bonaparte arrives at the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where he has been banished by the Allies.

  • 1777

    British Maj. Gen. John Burgoyne surrenders 5,000 men at Saratoga, N.Y.

  • 1691

    Maine and Plymouth are incorporated in Massachusetts.

  • 1529

    Henry VIII of England strips Thomas Wolsey of his office for failing to secure an annulment of his marriage.

  • 1346

    English forces defeat the Scots under David II during the Battle of Neville’s Cross, Scotland.

  • 1244

    The Sixth Crusade ends when an Egyptian-Khwarismian force almost annihilates the Frankish army at Gaza.