Carolina Alumni Review - July/August 2010

Vietnam Seminar Recalls Uncertain Times

‘That was a very anxious, tense evening – 40 to 50 guys whose lives depended on how this lottery came out’

Bob Ward ’ 70 of Chapel Hill had gone
to the Carolina basketball game that night
and returned to his dorm to find everyone
in the TV room. Someone was writing
the dates on a board. Even for those
whose birthdays were among the last
drawn, “you didn’t know exactly how safe
you were,” he said.

At the start of his reunion
weekend presen-
tation on the
Vietnam War,
Richard Kohn,
professor of histo-
ry and peace, war
and defense, asked
for a show of hands of those who served
in Vietnam. Nearly every man in the
Murphey Hall auditorium responded.

Five months later, students at Kent State protesting the war were shot by the National Guard, called in to keep order; four students died. Campuses across the country exploded.

“You’re my accuracy checkers,” Kohn said, then hit “play” on his slideshow of photos published in the war years, which covered the time many alumni gathered for the reunions were in college, particularly the class of 1970, the first class to graduate following the initial draft lottery in December 1969.

“We were the ones who would have to
fight the war, and we were asking ... what
are we doing over there?” Pollard said.
“Our fellow students were being shot and
killed by our own government troops. It
was appalling to our belief in freedom and
what America stood for.”
“We remember the Vietnam
War as a mistake because it
divided us,” Kohn said. “We
remember the biased press …
the unfairness of the draft …
ineffective bombing … anger
on the home front … veterans

SARAH MCCART Y ARNESON ’96

White House fence.”
Larry Pollard ’ 70 of Durham
remembered the night of the
draft lottery. He and his Beta

Richard Kohn, professor of history and peace, war and defense, led alumni, many of whom were students during the war years, through a retrospective of the Vietnam War.

Theta Pi fraternity brothers sat glued to the TV in the common room, watching as each capsule containing a number that corresponded to a month and date on the calendar was drawn. Those born on the first dates picked would be the first drafted.

“Guys with low draft numbers were crying or yelling and screaming and cussing; some ran from the room or they threw things against the wall; it was like it was their death sentence,” Pollard said. “Guys with high numbers were jubilant. That was a very anxious, tense evening —

Officers

D. Jordan Whichard III ’ 79, Greenville. . . . . . . . . . . .Chair Eleanor Saunders Morris ’ 55, Chapel Hill . .Immed. Past Chair Donald W. Curtis ’ 63, Raleigh. . . . . . . . . . . . .Chair-Elect Judy Allen Vinroot ’ 65, Charlotte . . . . . . . . . .1st Vice Chair James R. Zook Jr. ’ 87, Atlanta . . . . . . . . . . 2nd Vice Chair Anthony Eden Rand ’ 61, Fayetteville . . . . . . . Treasurer Dwight M.“Davy” Davidson III ’ 77, Greensboro . .Asst. Treasurer William P. Aycock II ’ 65, Greensboro . . . . . . . .Counsel Douglas S. Dibbert ’ 70, Chapel Hill . . . . . . . .President

Tar Heel Network Chairman

Thomas W. Lambeth ’ 57 . . . . . . . . . . Winston-Salem

Directors

APPOINTED AT LARGE

Robyn S. Hadley ’ 85 (2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . .Graham Eric Montross ’ 94 (2012) . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chapel Hill William L. Chambers ’ 72 (2012) . . . . . . . . . .Asheville Andrew R. Pflaum ’ 91 (2012) . . . .Portola Valley, Calif. Teresa Artis ’ 83 (2011) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Raleigh William A. Current Sr. ’ 56 (2011) . . . . . . . . . .Gastonia

ELECTED TO REPRESENT NORTH CAROLINA ALUMNI

John M. “Jack” Betts ’ 68 (2013) . . . . . . . . . . . .Raleigh Georgiana Bircher ’ 92 (2013) . . . . . . . . . . .New Bern William A. Warren Jr. ’99 (2013) . . . . . . . . .Cincinnati John B. Wilson Jr. ’ 85 (2013) . . . . . . . . . . .Chapel Hill Elbert Lee Avery ’ 82 (2012) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Durham Eloise McCain Hassell ’ 80 (2012) . . . . . . .Greensboro Margaret Ferguson Raynor ’ 67 (2012) . . . . . . .Garner Alan L. “A.C.” Caldwell ’ 78 (2011) . . . . . .Kernersville Harriet Morrison Loweth ’ 82 (2011) . . . . Wilmington Sally Price Ormand ’ 58 (2011) . . . . . . . . . . . .Monroe

ELECTED TO REPRESENT OUT-OF-STATE ALUMNI

Linda Partee Stephenson ’ 68 (2013) . . . . . . . . .Atlanta Dr.Robert W.Madry Jr.’ 63(2013) .Corpus Christie,Texas Kevin M. Levy ’ 92 (2013) . . . . . . . . . . .Pinecreest, Fla. F. Daniel Batten III ’ 64 (2012) . . . . . . .Charleston, S.C. L. Allan Parrott Jr. ’ 88 (2012) . . . . . . . . .Virginia Beach,Va. Cathy Harper Watts ’ 88 (2012) . . . . . . . . . .Los Angeles Draggan P. Mihailovich ’ 83 (2011) . . . .Stamford, Conn. Elizabeth Fell “Betsy” Oliphant ’96 (2011) . . .Philadelphia Larry L. Poe ’ 65 (2011) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Issue, Md.

ALUMNI ON THE ATHLETIC COUNCIL (ELECTED AT LARGE)

Ronald J. Wooten ’ 81 (2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . .Raleigh Samuel B. Perkins ’ 84 (2012) . . . . . . . . . .Indianapolis. Vaughn D. Bryson ’ 60 (2011) . . . . . . .Vero Beach, Fla.

EX OFFICIO, REPRESENTING THE STUDENT BODY

Hogan Medlin . . . . . . . . . . . .Student Body President Sarah Frier . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Editor, The Daily Tar Heel Elizabeth Deane . . . . . . . . . . . .President, Senior Class Chelsea Smith . . . . . . . President, Order of the Bell Tower

EX OFFICIO, REPRESENTING THE FACULT Y

Valerie V. Ashby ’ 88 (2011) . . . . . . . . . . . .Chapel Hill

PRESIDENTS OF SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS (EX OFFICIO)

Barbara Beechwood ’06(MRP),City&Reg’l Plan. . .Durham H. Bryan Cobb ’ 77 (DDS), Dentistry . . . . . .Greensboro Elizabeth M. Colbert’ 86, Education . . . . . . . . . .Raleigh Emily M. King’01, Info. & Library Sci. . . . . . . . .Chapel Hill Daniel W. Teachey ’ 95, Journalism & Mass Comm. . .Cary Norma R. Houston ’ 86, Law . . . . . . . . . . Chapel Hill Dr. Harold C. Pollard III ’ 70, Medicine .... Winston-Salem Gregory A. Simpson ’01 (MSN), Nursing . . . . .Durham Lori Tutterow Setzer ’ 83, Pharmacy . . . . . . . . . .Lewisville Marchell Adams David’ 92,Public Admin. . . .Rockingham Jacky A. Rosati ’02 (PhD), Public Health . . .Hillsborough Mark Damian Sullivan ’02 (MSW), Social Work . . .Durham