Blind Student Is Reclassified 1-A

Not even the disabled and blind will be left at Harvard Graduate Schools next year. Harold Krents, a blind first year Harvard Law student, has just been reclassified I-A by Local Draft Board 10 in Mt. Vernon, N.Y.

Krents had a II-S deferment all through his undergraduate days at Harvard, although he repeatedly informed his Draft Board that he has been legally blind all his life. "I wanted them to change my II-S classification to IV-F", he said. "But the change they finally made is just too much."

If needed, Krents is more than willing to serve, although he does have some reservations about his usefulness. "If the Army wants to give me a gun, they must want to get rid of some of our own generals," he said. "I can just see myself sitting in a trench. I'll just shoot whenever I hear anything move. I can hear the other soldiers saying, 'Private Krents, you just shot another officer--

The surprise move by Local Board 10 has not upset Krents particularly. He does hope the Army will give him some choice of mission: "If I go, my ambition is to be a bombardier. Then it wouldn't be too bad being a pilot either. I bear no ill feelings to the draft board whatever."

Known as a record setter--first blind person to dislocate his shoulder playing tackle football, etc.--Krents says he "might be the first American soldier captured in Vietnam while looking for the latrine."

Abel J. Levine, chairman of Local Board 10, denied that Krents' reclassification was a clerical error. "All I know is he has 30 days to appeal," he said. Krents is thinking it over.