4 Dead in Ohio...memoirs of May 4th, 1970

As summer begins to fade here in 2012, I look back and think of a strange and remorseful summer that I ever was a part of...the summer of...1970.
 I was still in high school...the year about to conclude...and the summer about to unfold, and there was turmoil everywhere. Viet Nam had become so "out of whack"...why were we even there at this point and time? There was some understanding as to some of the horrible atrocities going on in South Viet Nam, yet over 58000 Americans were killed to keep freedom alive as long as possible in that region of the world.
 Things were messed up. President Kennedy had launched a program to have a timeline to assure us we would pull out of 'Nam. Lyndon B. Johnson reversed the plan and kept us prodding forward in "Nam. There was a fear for almost 20 years or better on the growth of communism throughout the world, and Viet Nam Conflict was a necessity to keep communism contained and a 'balance of power'.
 There was chemical warfare going on...napalm...agent orange...and of course the deaths of many young Americans. There were reports of the U.S. troops themselves involved with inhumane atrocities...and when soldiers did return to the states they were screamed at even as they arrived at the airports as "baby killers"...they were spit on...and verbally abused.
 There was much to do about peace...world peace...and Viet Nam offered no comfort to the many young people (including myself) who were shouting it. Joan Baez was singing the anti-war protests songs and Jane Fonda...well, she took it  "way too far" (in my opinion).

 Then, on April 30th, 1970...President Nixon appears on national T.V., and announces the invasion of Cambodia to keep the communist regimes from control of that area of the world. This invasion would require an additional 150,000 U.S. troops to be drafted ( I remember watching the draft on T.V.,...I was #58...going by your birth date).
 That was the "last straw"...the Viet Nam Conflict (never officially declared a War by Congress)...was too much for the mass to accept. Then, on May 4th, 1970...a cold reality of what it was doing to America came to the forefront.

 Much protest had already began shortly after Nixon's announcement of 150,000 additional troops throughout the country. At Kent State, in Ohio, things were really getting "hot". Protesters to the war had already set an ROTC building on fire, and as a result James Allen Rhodes, the governor of Ohio, sent 900 National Guardsmen to the Kent State campus to try and keep peace and order.

 Then it really happened. It was in the early afternoon of May 4th when 28 Guardsmen were ordered to open fire on the protesters on campus. There had been reports of a sniper firing on the Guardsmen, but that was never confirmed. There was indeed some rock throwing going on. Some of the 28 Guardsmen pointed their rifles in the air when the firing began...but not all of them.  When the firing ceased, 4 Kent State students were killed...and 9 others wounded.
 Shortly after this tragedy, protests throughout the country went "through the roof". Nearly 500 colleges were either shutdown or disrupted by the chain of events brought on at Kent State.

 Later, a photo received the Pulitzer Prize, the image being a woman kneeling in anguish, arms upraised, beside one of the slain students.

 On May 14th, 1970, Jackson State University in Mississippi joined in protest of 'Nam, and 2 more students were killed while 9 more were wounded.

 The following students lost their lives that day at Kent State:
1. Allison Krause...19 years old from Pittsburgh, Pa.
2. Sandra Lee Scheuer...20 years old from Youngstown, Ohio.
3. Jeffrey Glenn Miller...20 years old from Long Island
4. William Schroeder...19 years old from Lorain, Ohio.

The following students lost their lives on May 15th, 1970 at Jackson College (now Jackson State University):
1. Phillip Lafayette Gibbs...21 years old...a junior at Jackson State
2. James E. Green...17 years old... a senior at a nearby high school (Jim Hill High).  

There were a total of 69 arrests made that day at Kent State University.

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young created a song shortly after the Kent State tragedy. David Crosby was quoted: " It's still hard to believe we had to write this song. It's ironic that we capitalized on the death of American students. Probably the most important lesson learned at an American place of learning."
 The song, entitled:"4 Dead in O-HI-O", opened up with this chorus:
            "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming
              We're finally on our own.
              This summer I hear the drumming
              4 dead in O-HI-O"

 This event is said in some circles to end the "Woodstock Nation". We began pulling out of Viet Nam shortly after that...and by 1975...Viet Nam was officially...over.