Vivi story. Case of a music critic’s veto.
This passage sent chills through many of draft age in those days:
“Come on mothers throughout the land, / Pack your boys off to Vietnam. / Come on fathers, don’t hesitate, / Send ‘em off before it’s too late. / Be the first one on your block / To have your boy come home in a box”.
I wasn’t one of them. Tried to enlist and failed the physical. My MD said not to bother trying again. He was a Marine vet. “With your heart you’d be dead during basic training.” Somehow, with God’s help, I healed and the rheumatic fever valve damage healed slowly on its own.
Glad to hear that you got good advice there on your heart from a reliable source.
I am certain that had I been of age, I would have enlisted on my own, and could have met that fate. Pretty sure I would have joined the Navy back then, though. Not the Army or Marines.