Kent State Guardsmen... They still around?

[DougieZero]

I was just reading a article on Yahoo about the Kent State shootings... It made me think about how they always list the wounded and killed, but do they ever talk about the individual guardsmen who fired shots at the students?

I was wondering how they feel about it today...

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. They would have been young enough to be around, still.

[Lerkfish]

2. My understanding is that many in the community supported the shootings

I gave an unrelated guest speech at Kent State a few years back and had dinner with a Prof. who pointed out that many in the community, mainly biz owners were very anti-student, since the previous week there'd been some vandalism in protest of the war. And many of them allegedly privately and not so privately felt the students got what they deserved. and Many of those people still own businesses there.

pretty chilling.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. I was in university at the time of Kent State

one of the odd folks in that the college town was my home town, and I lived at home, walking to campus for classes. My stepfather, a local service businessman, felt that the Kent State shootings were justified, and we finally had to agree never to discuss it. I remember going to campus after the shootings, seeing the cops with their guns, and being scared to death--there were people back then who would have not been bothered to shoot to kill.

[Lerkfish]

4. that supports what the prof was relating to me.

Personally, I am not structured in such a way that I feel anyone being killed for ideological reasons is justified. I continue to not understand those that are structured that way.
Life is too precious.

[Solo_in_MD]

5. Things I read some time ago indicated that some really believed they were being fired upon

and what happened was a fear reaction. Given their age an inexperience, I found it credible at the time.

[Oddball]

9. They thought they were being fired upon? Bullshit.!

They were "young" bigots heavily armed on a college campus. They had a temper tantrum, killed people, and got away with it because some geniuses thought it "plausible" that they thought they were being fired upon.

"Things you read some time ago indicated that they really believed they were being fired upon?" What did you THINK they would say after murdering people for no reason?

[Solo_in_MD]

11. That was and has always been the claim

I want to remember (it was a long time back) that the print article discussed only two of them who where indeed quite young at the time. They were sure they were being fired on, others in the squad fired and they joined in. They described being terrified and how over the years they had become remorseful, but steadfastly denied firing on command or prior intent to kill. As I said, the article seemed crebible at the time. Without a time machine, what really happened won't every be really known.

[AnOhioan]

6. Shootings may have been ordered by Guard Officer

Associated Press

CLEVELAND – An audio recording made 37 years ago may shed some light on what happened the day National Guard troops shot and killed four Kent State University students at an antiwar demonstration, a survivor said today.

Alan Canfora, who was wounded in the wrist during the confrontation in 1970, said the tape could resolve the mystery of whether a command to fire was issued and may offer a chance for healing for victims and shooters.

"We're not seeking revenge; we're not seeking punishment for the guardsmen at this late date," said Canfora, who wants the government to reopen the case.

"All we want is the truth, because we seek healing at Kent State for the student victims, as well as the triggermen who were ordered to fire. And healing can only result from the truth, and that's all we want."

More at http://www.thestar.com/News/article/208931

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Murderers who should be brought to trial.

[Oddball]

8. Damn Straight

These "Guardsmen" were nothing better than murderers who who should have been tried and convicted way back then. The trials and convictions of southerners who killed civil rights pioneers like Medgar Evers prove that it is never too late to bring people like this to Justice.

The National Guardsmen at Kent State were murderers who had no justification whatsoever for their actions. I would like to see them all rot in jail for the crimes they committed.

[Raine]

10. What if

they were ordered to do it...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2828375