The Draft: A Surprised 1A

THE DRAFT

When he turned in his draft card to the Justice Department during an anti-Viet Nam demonstration in Washington two months ago, Henry Braun hardly seemed to be risking a thing. He was married, had two children and, at 37, was two years above what he thought to be the draft age. This month Braun, a poet and an assistant English professor at Temple University, was reclassified from 5A (overage) to 1A. The move was a powerful one, since it made him eligible for conscription into military service.

The action was taken by the draft board in Buffalo, N.Y., Braun's home town, on grounds that he had violated a law requiring that all men born since Aug. 30, 1922, possess a draft card. "I expected to hear from the draft board," admitted Braun, "but I was surprised to find myself 1A."

The board's stern action undoubtedly grew out of a reminder that Lieut. General Lewis B. Hershey, the director of Selective Service, sent to the nation's 4,088 draft boards on Oct. 24—just two days before his memorandum advising that all draft-deferred protesters who act against the "national interest" be inducted immediately. In his earlier notice, Hershey pointed out to the local boards that the draft law clearly states that it is unlawful to mutilate or abandon registration cards. Any man guilty of doing so, Hershey advised, should be reclassified and declared a delinquent—which under the existing draft law means he is among the first in line for induction.