KENT STATE UNIVERSITY

 

In 1970 my girlfriend Lynn heard the news that her b/f had been shot in the chest by National Guardsmen shortly after noon at Kent State University.  His name, John Cleary and if I remember he was a pre-med student.  Lynn was  freshman in high school and the only one of my friends dating a BIG Senior.  John was quiet & friendly.  I dont know if he was involved in the Anti-War demonstration, walking to class, or a on looker as some of the casualties. 

 

Richard Nixon had been elected President in 1968, promising to end the Vietnam War. In November 1969 the My Lai Massacre was exposed, prompting widespread outrage around the world and leading to increased public opposition to the war. In addition, the following month saw the first draft lottery instituted since World War II. The war had appeared to be winding down throughout 1969 so a new invasion of Cambodia angered those who felt it only exacerbated the conflict.

Many young people, including college students and teachers, were concerned about being drafted to fight in a war that they strongly opposed. The expansion of that war into another country appeared to them to have increased that risk. Across the country, campuses erupted in protests that magazines called "a nation-wide student strike" for the events of early May 1970.

 

I do remember bumping in to John in the grocery store in the small town of Scotia years later.  My two children were just babies & my hands were full shopping with little ones.  The time was not right to ask about "Kent State" or the aftermath.  I can only imagine that recovery from a bullet wound to the chest was a long and painful experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     1970  National Guard Kills Four At Kent State

In Kent, Ohio, 28 National Guardsmen fire their weapons at a group of antiwar demonstrators on the Kent State University campus, killing four students, wounding eight, and permanently paralyzing another.

Two days earlier, the National Guard troops were called to Kent to suppress students rioting in protest of the Vietnam War and the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. The next day, scattered protests were dispersed by tear gas, and on May 4 class resumed at Kent State University. By noon that day, despite a ban on rallies, some 2,000 people had assembled on the campus. National Guard troops arrived and ordered the crowd to disperse, fired tear gas, and advanced against the students with bayonets fixed on their rifles. Some of the protesters, refusing to yield, responded by throwing rocks and verbally taunting the troops.

Minutes later, without firing a warning shot, the Guardsmen discharged more than 60 rounds toward a group of demonstrators in a nearby parking lot, killing four and wounding nine. The closest casualty was 20 yards away, and the farthest was almost 250 yards away. After a period of disbelief, shock, and attempts at first aid, angry students gathered on a nearby slope and were again ordered to move by the Guardsmen. Faculty members were able to convince the group to disperse, and further bloodshed was prevented.

In 1974, at the end of a criminal investigation into the Kent State incident, a federal court dropped all charges levied against eight Ohio National Guardsmen for their role in the students' deaths.

 

 

OHIO