Kent State happened 50 years ago today.

Could it happen again?

 

I saw that the other night, they've been running a series her in the UK on PBS about the Vietnam war, truly shocking some of it, not the war bit, I mean you expect that, but what actually happened in the USA.

 

I remember....

 

That the "4 dead in Ohio"?

 

Yes.

"Ohio"

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?

 

What do you mean could ??? - It did didn't it at Berkley University !!!

 

No ... What happened 50 years ago is history ... Let it be.

 

An excellent way to make sure it does happen again... Just forget about it, doesn't matter, it's just history.

 

Yes--I remember it. The war pictures on TV too--bragging about how many solders from the other side were killed. Every night. Showing blown up people and villages. In fact I remember clear back to when men in little white helmets would come to the door and tell my father and mother to turn off all the lights because Japanese subs were in the area. 1943. I suppose it's kind of an advantage to still be around and be able to remember it all from back then to now. The politics of all of it too. The 60s and all that happened in that decade are the most memorable I think. But it's ALWAYS been one serious thing after another. I don't suppose that will ever change.

 

Killed (and approximate distance from the National Guard):

• Jeffrey Glenn Miller; age 20; 265 ft (81 m) shot through the mouth; killed instantly
• Allison B. Krause; age 19; 343 ft (105 m) fatal left chest wound; died later that day
• William Knox Schroeder; age 19; 382 ft (116 m) fatal chest wound; died almost an hour later in a local hospital while undergoing surgery
• Sandra Lee Scheuer; age 20; 390 ft (120 m) fatal neck wound; died a few minutes later from loss of blood

Wounded (and approximate distance from the National Guard):

• Joseph Lewis, Jr.; 71 ft (22 m); hit twice in the right abdomen and left lower leg
• John R. Cleary; 110 ft (34 m); upper left chest wound
• Thomas Mark Grace; 225 ft (69 m); struck in left ankle
• Alan Michael Canfora; 225 ft (69 m); hit in his right wrist
• Dean R. Kahler; 300 ft (91 m); back wound fracturing the vertebrae, permanently paralyzed from the chest down
• Douglas Alan Wrentmore; 329 ft (100 m); hit in his right knee
• James Dennis Russell; 375 ft (114 m); hit in his right thigh from a bullet and in the right forehead by birdshot, both wounds minor
• Robert Follis Stamps; 495 ft (151 m); hit in his right buttock
• Donald Scott MacKenzie; 750 ft (230 m); neck wound

 

Why you dredging up this stuff? You have a reason ... maybe a premonition or maybe you just posted a thread ... any thread? Or did you maybe have family or friends who died at Kent State?

 

I did not realize the list of wounded was that extensive.

 

Some who were there interviewed recently.



I was in college in Ithaca NY when this happened. I won't forget.

 

Then there were the innocent Vietnamese villagers tortured, raped and killed by so-called civilised American Soldiers and marines. One such incident occurred in a little village called My Lai. A platoon of Marines led by Lt Calley. Yes I am old enough to remember it, as I was demonstrating against it in London month after month. I was in the forefront of the Battle of Grosvenor Square when the Metropolitan Police unleashed their cavalry on us.

 

That little girl that was running down the road naked after being burned by napalm is still alive. Another memorable picture from the 60s.

 

= A Terrible event that was flashed upon my TV screen and still resonates in my memory. The question of "Why?" was perhaps never so apt and the phrase"Lest we forget" forgotten in this 24/7 world of convenience

Because it should not be forgotten - Freedom always comes at a cost, and these youngsters expressing their right to protest, paid the ultimate price.

 

So...we shouldn't observe the 50th anniversary of this event? We should let it fade from memory? Those who can't remember the past are doomed to repeat it.

 

Why shouldn't we?

Does it bother you?

 

I never stopped thinking about it for fifty years.

 

He don't like it because it makes his political idols look bad.