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 May 18, would your number have been called?

  • Vietnam War 1969 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    278
  • Vietnam War 1970 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    180
  • Vietnam War 1971 Lottery
    CalledDrafted
    85
  • Vietnam War 1972 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    98

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





more events on May 18

  • 1980

    After rumbling for two months, Mount Saint Helens, in Washington, erupts 3 times in 24 hours.

  • 1974

    India becomes the sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb.

  • 1969

    Two battalions of the 101st Airborne Division assault Hill 937 but cannot reach the top because of muddy conditions.

  • 1951

    The United Nations moves its headquarters to New York city.

  • 1944

    The Allies finally capture Monte Cassino in Italy.

  • 1942

    New York ends night baseball games for the rest of World War II.

  • 1933

    President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Tennessee Valley Authority Act.

  • 1931

    Japanese pilot Seiji Yoshihara crashes his plane in the Pacific Ocean while trying to be the first to cross the ocean nonstop. He is picked up seven hours later by a passing ship.

  • 1919

    Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer.

  • 1918

    John Paul II [Karol Jozef Wojtyla], Roman Catholic pope.

  • 1917

    The U.S. Congress passes the Selective Service act, calling up soldiers to fight World War I.

  • 1911

    Joseph Vernon “Big Joe” Turner, blues singer.

  • 1904

    Brigand Raisuli kidnaps American Ion H. Perdicaris in Morocco.

  • 1902

    Meredith Willson, composer and lyricist (The Music Man).

  • 1897

    Frank Capra, film director (It’s A Wonderful Life).

  • 1896

    The Supreme Court’s decision on Plessy v. Ferguson upholds the “separate but equal” policy in the United States.

  • 1872

    Bertrand Russell, English mathematician, philosopher and social reformer.

  • 1868

    Nicholas II, the last Russian czar.

  • 1864

    The fighting at Spotsylvania in Virginia, reaches its peak at the Bloody Angle.

  • 1860

    Abraham Lincoln is nominated for president.

  • 1836

    Wilhelm Steinitz, chess champion.

  • 1828

    The Battle of Las Piedras, between Uruguay and Brazil, ends.

  • 1804

    Napoleon Bonaparte becomes the Emperor of France.

  • 1802

    Britain declares war on France.

  • 1792

    Russian troops invade Poland.

  • 1652

    A law is passed in Rhode Island banning slavery in the colonies but it causes little stir and seems unlikely to be enforced.

  • 1643

    Queen Anne, the widow of Louis XIII, is granted sole and absolute power as regent by the Paris parliament, overriding the late king’s will.

  • 526

    St. John I ends his reign as Catholic Pope.