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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz CA
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It wasnt a cut and dried issue back then, as i remember. It wasn't then and never will be. I had a brother that never came home from Nam. He, and all the others, should have come home, or better yet never have been deployed. The four Kent State students, and the two Jackson State students should have gone on to graduate.
It was a tragedy. My Dad's war I understood. I've not understood any war since then. Eisenhower had it right.
Susan
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WBraun
climber
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There is no noble war.
Then why are you at war ......
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Thanks, Ed, for commenting on those lost at Jackson State.
Nobody ever remembers those students. . .
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WBraun
climber
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Randisi
When you stop attempting nihilistic or dualistic interpretations then you'll find the answer.
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Banquo
climber
Amerricka
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I was 13 and in the 8th grade but I am having trouble recalling where we lived then. I started 8th grade in a two room school in Clarkia Idaho but finished in Pasco Washington. We moved two to four times a tear so I have trouble recalling where we were when. The pictures are ingrained in my mind. Especially the one of Jeffrey Miller bleeding out. They say he died instantly but I've done enough hunting to know that his heart was beating. A body doesn't bleed much unless the heart is beating.
We had a neighbor in Pasco just back from Viet Nam. He pretty much stayed in a small camper trailer in his parent's yard playing a drum set except to occasionally blow into very scary rages that involved weapons. I recall him poking a big knife out through the walls of the trailer. We were scared of him but he would come down to the river and give us pot.
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Magic Ed
Trad climber
Nuevo Leon, Mexico
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I was living in a log cabin up past Brainard Lake. No electric, no phone, no running water, no clock, no radio, no TV.
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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I was only 9 years old in May 1970. I grew up in Texas and was a little red around the neck. My parents were actually very progressive but we never discussed politics. I worked for two years in a machine shop before I graduated from high school. To say I was in a conservative environment would be an understatement. In my teens I thought I wanted to go off to Vietnam. I graduated in 1978 and joined the Marine Corps. Stationed for a year in Colorado and 2 years in California broadened my perspective, a lot.
Ironically there are wackjobs today who claim we are under the thumb of an oppressive Nazi/Fascist like government. Looking back to the Kent State tragedy I think we can say great progress has been made. Jeffrey Glenn Miller, Allison B. Krause, William Knox Schroeder and Sandra Lee Scheuer did not die in vain.
My favorite tribute to the Kent State victims was written by Holly Near, an amazing woman who continues to fight for ALL of our rights.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz CA
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Many people didn't understand that war either.
There is no noble war.
Understanding does not imply noble.
Susan
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Hey Philo, I was suspended too. I was a sophomore at Golden High School (16 yrs old) and all of the "Heads" (of which were my new found kindred spirits) wore black armbands. They suspended us and contacted our parents, my dad promptly took away my driving privileges.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab or In What Time Zone Am I?
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Forty five years.
It seems like yesterday.
I still remember hearing about it on a crackly am radio station as I was studying for finals.
Tens of thousands of us were in Washington within days with National Guard on the roof tops with guns.
A profound loss of innocence.
Susan
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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My mom graduated high school in 1968 and I was born in 1973. Somewhere around junior high I became a fan of Crosby Stills and Nash from listening to my mom's records. Kent State was firmly lodged into my consciousness through the horror in my mom's face, the raw emotion in her voice, when she described those times to me, explaining what the song meant.
I wasn't alive for the craziness of the times, but I witnessed the aftermath of Viet Nam with the homeless men, the drunken men, the broken men, the men trying to hold it together, in the small beachtown where I grew up. My mom had a bakery next to the beach, and I was often wandering the beachfront at 6am, and some of these men passed out in their cars became my friends. All of them were our customers. One of them was a sort of father figure for me and I spent a lot of time with him over the next few years. Such a mix of emotions, a real heart of gold and so many demons and anger boiling beneath the surface. It's amazing how 30-35 years later I can still see them clearly in my mind. Somehow I've managed to remain insulated from the desert wars, being too old to have friends there and too young to have children there, but Viet Nam has a more visceral impact for me, perhaps because I connect it with the echoes in the faces and expressions of those men from my childhood. I don't know what they saw or did but I'm thankful that I have been spared.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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I was at UCONN, pulling pretty near a 4.0, so I could graduate. I was at the bottom, having flunked about 18 credits.
The students nationally, went on strike. UCONN, gave every one a "Pass" so no grades, no gpa boost, and I graduated last person. Then I got drafted into the Army. It was a bad scene.
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Freshman, Grant high school, Portland OR.
Confirmed and deepened my alienation from the US ruling class. Cynicism continues to this day.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, ... i didn't graduation unti 1971, so this must have been near the end of my junior highschool year...
but i only remember bits and pieces of any/all news stories...
i do remember the name of nixon, though, being in the news...
i just was too engrossed with just trying to learn, school stuff that everything else, sadly, never registered into things to pursue reading about etc... :(
i DO remember hearing many war protest, though, as, many friends talked and shared ... i heard the name of this, as a 'situation' that happened, but never heard what REALLY happened, until i was out of school, years, later, :)
EDIT:
2015, anniversary...
http://www.wtam.com/articles/wtam-local-news-122520/kent-state-university-marks-shooting-anniversary-13557022/
say, i just was reading more on this...
and found this link...
not sure if it is important for anyone to read, but HERE IT IS:
sad state of 'business' that was nearly done, oh my:
http://cindysheehanssoapbox.com/11/post/2014/09/sister-of-slain-kent-state-protestor-issues-statement-to-urban-outfitters-blood-spattered-sweatshirt-stunt.html
good that the sister CAME TO FIND OUT, about this situation...
https://mendocoastcurrent.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/sister-of-slain-kent-state-protestor-issues-statement-responding-to-urban-outfitters-blood-spattered-sweatshirt-stunt/
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Flip Flop
climber
salad bowl, california
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SteveA writes:
May 4, 2014 - 07:27am PT
I was in a Vietnam clinic, after nearly getting blown away on May 3rd. There was a sapper attack at around mid-night and a bag of explosives, loaded with shrapnel landed at my feet. I got about 6 feet away before it detonated. Spent from May to Sept. recovering Stateside.
I was due to leave Vietnam the next morning, but the injury extended my stay in the Army till October. I still feel we made a big mistake in entering that conflict; as well as every war afterwards.
Don't bother to thank me for my service, as the war was NOT justifiable.
Gulp. Wow Steve. I won't do you the disservice of thanking you for your Service in Vietnam but I would like to apologize for US as a country. I will thank you for your post and for speaking your truth. It's more than we deserve. I was only a baby then. I'm glad that you lived.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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I was in eight grade then and couldn't understand it then any more than I do now. Though sadly it's made so many simlar subsequent events less unexpected.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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Never Forget.
Susan
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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I wasn't very political at the time.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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One of my fellow eight graders said, " Yeah what would you do if all those hippy freaks were coming at you and you had a gun?
Then he went on to say that I, was the one with a biased viewpoint...
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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I was about to graduate from high school.
A very sad day, followed by the Jackson State shootings on May 15 of that
year. Such tragedy.
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