May 4, 1970

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

The day's about done, but did anyone take a moment to remember where they were and what they were doing 45 years ago today when they heard the news? I was a long ways from Ohio--not near as far away as I know some of you were--and coming out of a poli sci class when I heard the news from Kent State. It would take half a book to cover all my thoughts and emotions of the rest of that day... today I could probably summarize 'em in one sentence. "Whiskey tango foxtrot: this is AMERICA!"

Looking at Baltimore today, maybe I was overly idealistic back then...

Rick C

 

[wolfsong]

"Tin soldiers and Nixon coming..."

 

[blume357]

Soldiers shooting unarmed citizens practicing their 1st amendment rights...

Yep, that's a day we should never forget.... shows it or worse can happen anywhere.

 

[DGW1949]

but..but...but...one of them school kids threw a rock.

DGW

 

[Pat-inCO]

but..but...but...one of them school kids threw a rock.

They have the right to say what they want, protest as they like, UNTIL
they start trying to assault others. At that point they become a lawless
mob.

While we are speaking about remembering, how many of you remember
the devastation to the lives of innocent people harmed by rioters?

OR

We could go for equality.

 

[Critch]

I suggest everyone read James Michener's book on Kent State, Kent State: What Happened and Why. It was a terribly tragic event, but it's hard to "blame" any particular person or group. The Guardsmen were ill trained and tired from another deployment to a trucker's strike, they should not have had live rounds. The protestors were getting increasingly violent; a thrown rock can kill or seriously injure you BTW. The students who were killed weren't even in the protest group, they were up a hill and behind them. I was 16 when this happened and over the years I've just come to the conclusion that, like in so many tragedies, one bad decision compounded on another, by many groups caused it.

Those Guardsmen weren't heartless robots who just gunned the kids down, the protestors for the most part weren't a pack of violent anarchists...my own feelings are that the governor of Ohio made lot's of poor decisions.

 

[stevemb]

"They should not have had live rounds". No, never. You send someone out with a firearm, you give them real ammo. If they haven't been properly trained for that role, thats the problem. But NEVER send a serviceman/woman in harms way with a weapon, and no ammo. NEVER. Not guarding the outhouse. Never. It's been my thought that amongst the protesters were others trying to push things beyond peaceful. There is a pic from Baltimore now of a person in a Mil-Spec gas mask about to throw a brick at the LE officers. He came prepared for violence, he should'a got some.

 

[LGC42]

I always remember May 4. It's my wifes birthday.

 

[stevemb]

There ya go, and my lil sis's b-day. Also it seems, star wars day ? Wha ????

 

[graygun]

I was in Vietnam and felt kind of happy to hear of it. I'd be lying if I said something different.

 

[stevemb]

Graygun, thank you for your honest response. Your POV, not a media driven POV. I've lived my life here, and there was something afoot there, besides students protesting.

 

[RonEgg]

I had just returned from VN. Didn't think about it much, still haven't.

 

[FastEd]

The next day a disk jockey on a radio station in Cleveland interviewed 10 mothers who had kids in school.
Nine were in favor of shooting the protestors. The tenth woman said they didn't shoot enough of them.

The Kent State ROTC building was burned down on May 2.

 

[UmpquaCharlie]

I was just home from Nam after spending a year with the 173rd Airborne as a platoon sergeant.......and I cheered the National Guard. You can't believe how angry I was (am) at draft dodgers and protestors.
Little more mellow now that I am 70.

 

[wheelgun1958]

"Tin soldiers and Nixon coming..."

We're finally on our own.

 

[6gun]

May 4 1970 was 3 days before my eleventh birthday can't say I exactly remember what way happening that day, was probably playing marbles at recess or perhaps having a good fist fight after school, then going home to ride my mini-bike. :mrgreen:

 

[DGW1949]

but..but...but...one of them school kids threw a rock.

They have the right to say what they want, protest as they like, UNTIL
they start trying to assault others. At that point they become a lawless
mob.

While we are speaking about remembering, how many of you remember
the devastation to the lives of innocent people harmed by rioters?

OR

We could go for equality.

Yeah, that's it Pat.....just bring in the troops and gun 'em all down. :roll: .

DGW

 

[RugerHound]

"They should not have had live rounds". No, never. You send someone out with a firearm, you give them real ammo. If they haven't been properly trained for that role, thats the problem. But NEVER send a serviceman/woman in harms way with a weapon, and no ammo. NEVER. Not guarding the outhouse. Never. It's been my thought that amongst the protesters were others trying to push things beyond peaceful. There is a pic from Baltimore now of a person in a Mil-Spec gas mask about to throw a brick at the LE officers. He came prepared for violence, he should'a got some.

I'd be very unhappy if I ever got sent into some frakas with an unloaded firearm. If I'm not gonna get bullets, then keep the @#)*$!@# rifle in the locker.

As was stated earlier - Kent State was a terrible tragedy. When tensions are high & people are agitated on all sides, anything's liable to happen. Let's not forget the reception that GIs were receiving at the hands of anti-war protesters when they got back home from Viet Nam. Tragedies like Kent State just don't happen because of one thing. They happen because a lot of things went wrong over a period of time.

A tinderbox just looking for a spark. And it found one.

 

[Jeepnik]

but..but...but...one of them school kids threw a rock.

DGW

And another kid panicked. It was a bad day. The blame can not be laid entirely on the Guard.

 

[Colonialgirl]

Don't forget, The "protesters" had just burned the ROTC building down too.

 

[golferboy426]

I played Neil several times.

No excuse for the Guard behavior. Worse , nobody ever was held accountable and prosecuted

 

[blackhawknj]

I was in the Army at the time, no one expressed any sympathy for the students, those Ohio Guardsmen could have been us.

 

[Phoenix too]

I was a Jr at University. It was a very, very, sad day. Many, many bad decisions. I still, to this day, can't believe it actually happened.

 

[turd]

Woke a lot of people up.