Draft decision -> join the Merchant Marines

My family moved to Duluth from Barnum in 1968 and I started learning more about the Viet Nam war. I received my draft card in 1975 and was 1A with a number of 69.

Although I wasn't drafted into the military, I joined the Merchant Marines and helped carry taconite from the North Shore to River Rouge Detroit. When the Steelworkers went on strike and wouldn't load the boats in MN, we went to Sept Isles Labrador to pick up a shipment from Brazil. The next year Cleveland Cliffs Mining towed their flagship across the Atlantic and cut it up for scrap since it was cheaper to import raw materials from South America to make cars.