Not sure if your question has been answered as I've not read the entire thread.... But here's some statistical data on the Selective Service Inductions going back to WWI....
The following shows the numbers of men who entered military service through the Selective Service System during major 20th century conflicts in which the U.S. was engaged.
Conflict and Number of Inductions:
| WWI: (Sept. 1917-Nov. 1918) | 2,810,296 |
| WWII: (Nov. 1940-Oct. 1946) | 10,110,104 |
| Korea: (June 1950-June 1953) | 1,529,539 |
| Vietnam: (Aug 1964- Feb 1973) | 1,857,304 |
Inductions (by year) from World War I through the end of the draft (1973)
| Year: | Number of Inductions | |
|
1917: |
516,212 2,294,084 18,633 923,842 3,033,361 3,323,970 1,591,942 945,862 183,383 0 20,348 9,781 219,771 551,806 438,479 471,806 253,230 152,777 137,940 138,504 142,246 96,153 86,602 118,586 82,060 119,265 112,386 230,991 382,010 228,263 296,406 283,586 162,746 94,092 49,514 646 |
|
The last man inducted entered the Army on June 30, 1973.
For more information about induction statistics, call Selective Service at (703)605-4100.
Thanks, deport.
It looks like the bump up for Vietnam began in 1965 and ended about 1970. The nation was taking about 100,000 per year just for normal fill. It bumped up another 100,000 in 1965.
On to figuring out how they decided who got the lucky letters in 65-67 and 68-73.