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Drafters
USA
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 Posted - 05/04/2006 : 12:25:32 PM
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Allison Krause***** Jeffrey Glen Miller
Sandra Lee Scheuer***** William Knox Schroeder
May 4, 1970 -- prelude to tragedy -- my brief description:
My frightened girlfriend stayed in my apartment after I prepared two black protest flags. I purposefully chose black material to match my dark mood of despair and anger following the recent death of my friend Bill Caldwell in Vietnam. Four hundred Ohio national guardsmen (ONG) were in the city of Kent and 800 were on the campus. Leaving my apartment, I walked past many of these soldiers, went several blocks east to the Kent State campus, and joined my friends on the KSU Commons at noon. About 1,000 students had joined the protest rally, but classes were being held on campus as usual.
We assumed we still could exercise our Constitutional rights of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom to dissent. Immediately as our peaceful anti-war rally began, approximately 75 members of the Ohio National Guard attacked our peaceful gathering. As these guardsmen wearing helmets and gas masks marched and fired tear gas, we ran away from the KSU Commons up over "Blanket Hill" and down into the Prentice Hall dormitory's parking lot.
The armed guardsmen followed us over the hill and then settled on a practice football field for perhaps 10 minutes. During this time, a stand-off occurred as a few rocks were thrown back and forth by both students and guardsmen. Because we stood hundreds of feet apart the rocks were ineffective and both sides ceased that activity.
As some of us walked closer to shout our anti-war and anti-National Guard anger, perhaps 250-feet away, about a dozen guardsmen kneeled and aimed toward us. I stood my ground and shouted towards the armed troops who had their fingers on their rifle triggers. Since there was no logical reason to aim or shoot, I assumed they would not fire and I was correct -- at that moment. Soon, however, the troops regrouped and began to march away back up the hill. We assumed they were marching in a retreat back over the hill to the KSU Commons.
We were quite shocked when, at the hilltop, perhaps a dozen members of Troop G simultaneously stopped, turned and aimed their rifles. What followed was a 13 second barrage of gunfire, mostly from M-1 rifles, into our crowd of unarmed students..........
http://alancanfora.com/
"It's still hard to believe I had to write this song. It's ironic that I capitalized on the death of these American students. Probably the most important lesson ever learned at an American place of learning. David Crosby cried after this take." - Neil Young, from liner notes of the Decade album.
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kent_State_massacre.jpg
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Woods Racing
USA
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Posted - 05/04/2006 : 1:42:35 PM
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| Seems so long ago, Drafters. Almost like a different world. I appreciate you not being one to forget it all. |
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Drafters
USA
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Posted - 05/04/2006 : 3:41:20 PM
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| This note sure brings out the difference between the fine people here and the jerks at brand X. |
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bruskiracing
US
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Posted - 05/04/2006 : 5:14:18 PM
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| I like history posts and I didn't realize today was the Kent State anniversary. Before I responded on either board I had to listen to the old CSN&Y. What with the war today an Iraq and Afghansitan, the NSA spying on American citizens and the CIA breaking international treaties and flaunting international justice I sure hope we don't end up with another Kent State. So many parallels of big government gone bad, but I don't sense the outrage of today's populous to stage the kind of demonstrations that led to Kent State and eventually our getting out of Vietnam. |
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This Day In History
