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Thread: Kent State

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    Default Kent State

    This is something I posted on Facebook. Normally I wouldn't post such a thing here, but it's particularly emotional for me as a Vietnam War veteran.

    Kent State, 50 Years Ago Tomorrow

    What if you knew her
    And found her dead on the ground
    How can you run when you know?

    It was 50 years ago, tomorrow, when the Ohio National Guard callously murdered four students on the campus of their university. Two were protesting the Vietnam war and two were simply moving between classes:

    Allison Krause
    Jeffrey Miller
    Sandra Scheuer
    William Knox Schroeder

    A bullet from an M1 rifle, same type of weapon his father used in World War II, hit Dean R. Kahler's spine, paralyzing him. He has spent his life in a wheelchair. Eight other students were wounded and survived the attack.

    In 1917, George M. Cohan wrote the song, "Over There" celebrating the entry of the U.S. into World War I -- and the sending of troops overseas to war. If Kent State taught any lesson, it is that war is never just "over there."


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    Johnny_S (May 4th, 2020), TSherbs (May 4th, 2020)

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    Senior Member Johnny_S's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kent State

    Thank you for posting, it was genuinely interesting in hearing your opinion.

    Whilst I have my own thoughts on the subject I am not sure how valid they are as I have never fought in a conflict and never worn a uniform for my country, as the expression goes, 'I don't have a dog in this race'.

    If I may though, I would like to tell of a conversation that I had many years ago, it made an impact on me.

    In 1976 I was talking to a pharmacist in New York, he had left Germany in the 1930s in fear of his life and settled in NY where he trained to be a pharmacist, he was a German Jew and a Socialist.

    He was later required to join the Army but refused. I am not sure if the reason he told me was the reason at the time or a subsequent interpretation but he thought it was crazy to be working on medicines to help the sick and poor in his adopted country when he would be making poor people sick in his home country, that was the pharmacist talking. The Socialist part of him said that it was wrong for people to fight other people when the decision to fight was being made by people who would never hold a gun. He believed that there were no winners in war, the phrase we won the war was only spoken by fools.

    He then spoke about Vietnam, Korea and the conflicts in the Middle East over the many decades, he used the expression what good have these wars done, what did they achieve

    I was too young and had a lack of world knowledge to understand the sorrow in that eyes of that man.
    Last edited by Johnny_S; May 4th, 2020 at 08:07 AM.

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    Useless mhosea's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kent State

    I was too young to be aware of this when it happened, and I have not studied it. You are always responsible for where every round you shoot goes, and the results speak for themselves on that account. Was there ever a credible explanation of why they opened fire?
    --
    Mike

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    Senior Member Johnny_S's Avatar
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    Default Re: Kent State

    Quote Originally Posted by mhosea View Post
    I was too young to be aware of this when it happened, and I have not studied it. You are always responsible for where every round you shoot goes, and the results speak for themselves on that account. Was there ever a credible explanation of why they opened fire?
    There is a good article in today's NY Times on the killing but the article is silent on why the National Guard opened fire.

    The reporting of the killing at the time was split between outrage and others who thought that the students got their 'just desserts'.

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    Default Re: Kent State

    This is what happens when you put armed soldiers on a tense campus in a culture awash with the virtue of gunpower, and then throw in deep resentment on both sides.

    It happened again at Jackson State 11 days later. Two more shot dead.



    Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk

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    Brilliant Bill (May 4th, 2020)

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    Default Re: Kent State

    I am reminded of the Chicago riots in 1968, with Mayor Richard J. Daley giving police the authority "to shoot to kill any arsonist or anyone with a Molotov cocktail in his hand, this was also recalled in a CSN song.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsKzZXtF2_U

    Soon after there was an episode of Rowan and Martins Laugh In, you may remember the Nazi soldier on the show

    He sang 'My kind of town Chicago is'.

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    Default Re: Kent State

    In memory of Sandra Scheuer this is Harvey Andrews "Hey Sandy"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe-22-BajRA

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