Tweet
Anti-war protests erupted on the streets of Kent two days later on Friday, May 1. A large on-campus protest was scheduled for May 4 and a number of non-student "agitators" were stirring up campus anger at the government's actions. Bands of roving protesters set several town shops on fire and placed burning tires in the streets to block firefighters sent to put out the blazes. The local police, despite being hit with rocks, pushed the crowds back to campus.
Battles erupted again the following afternoon between students and police. By midday, as the number of demonstrators grew and the level of violence increased, the police began losing control. Mayor LeRoy Satrom asked the governor to send Guardsmen to supplement the police in restoring peace.
Rhodes called Maj. Gen. S.T. Del Corso, Ohio adjutant general, and ordered him to immediately dispatch at least 400 men to Kent State.
Del Corso deployed men already on state duty for the truckers strike. He selected the 1st Battalion, 145th Infantry and the 2nd Squadron, 107th Armored Cavalry. Troops of the advanced elements were put in trucks and buses in Akron and began moving to Kent.
But by late afternoon, trouble on campus grew even more intense when protesters set fire to the ROTC building. When firemen arrived to bring the blaze under control, the rioters pelted them with rocks and cut their fire hoses. Demonstrators chanted anti-war slogans while the firemen stood by helplessly watching the building burn.
When the first Guardsmen arrived on campus about 9:30 p.m., they found the remains of the ROTC building still smoldering. They set up a perimeter, but most of the protesters had already left. Patrols were established around town and on part of the campus. The troops drove Jeeps, trucks and 15 M-113 armored personnel carriers, along with 17 helicopters to watch for large gatherings on campus.
As the Guardsmen deployed, the mayor met with the adjutant general and Brig. Gen. Robert Canterbury, the assistant adjutant general for Army, neither of whom assumed an active role in the command of troops. Lt. Col. Charles Fassinger of 1/145th Infantry was appointed as the on-site commander.
They decided in the meeting that the Guard would take control, as proscribed by law when local authorities request assistance. Following this meeting, the adjutant general left to visit another Guard operation. Canterbury remained in Kent.
Sunday morning and afternoon remained quiet. Some shop owners in Kent said they received anonymous calls telling them to post signs in their windows saying "Guard Go Home" and other anti-Guard slogans. But the troops experienced no trouble during their patrols. After authorities imposed an overnight curfew until 6 a.m. Monday, Guardsmen warned students in town to return to their homes. Most quietly complied.
It was only after Guardsmen started moving a crowd toward campus that rocks and bottles were thrown at them. The Guard responded with the only non-lethal tools they had -- CS gas. A moving battle took place, with 10 Guardsmen injured as they pushed protesters onto campus, where they dispersed around 11:30 p.m.
May 4 started quietly on campus. Following discussions with Guard and local officials, the school president decided to cancel the scheduled rally against the war. Though the campus radio station ran announcements of the cancellation, many students remained unaware of the change. While it was a regular day of classes, there were a number of non-students milling around, stirring up the anger of a small but vocal group of students. By late morning, the crowd had grown to about 2,500. Most of the protesters were located on a large open area known at the "Commons," near the charred remains of the ROTC building.
As the tempo of their anti-war, anti-military chanting intensified, they were encouraged by other students not participating in the protest.
Guard personnel around the ROTC building consisted of detachments from Companies A and C, 1/145th Infantry and Troop G of the 2/107th Armored Cavalry. They totaled about 125 men.
Most were armed with M-1 rifles and bayonets. Each man was issued live rounds, which they were ordered to load. Many of the NCOs carried pistols and a few senior NCOs were issued riot shotguns. Specially trained "grenadiers" carried M-79 grenade launchers to fire CS tear gas canisters farther than a man can throw.
Many of the soldiers were also supplied with CS hand grenades. These were the only non-lethal weapons the troops had available. At the time, the Guard was not issued crowd control batons or shields. The only protection the soldiers had were their steel helmets. They had no body armor or face shields, though they did wear protective masks.
As the crowd grew larger and more vocal, the troops became apprehensive. Most of the Guardsmen were about the same age as the protesters. Many were sympathetic to the students' cause. But they were sworn to enforce the law and found themselves growing uneasy as the shouting intensified.
Late in the morning, a police official, riding in a Guard Jeep, approached the students and read them an order to disperse or face arrest. The protesters pelted the Jeep with rocks, forcing it to retreat. One Guardsman was injured by shattered glass from the windshield and was the first of 50 soldiers who would be hurt in the next hour.
Canterbury, who was on-site by the ROTC ruins, asked troops to move the students off the Commons and to the other side of Taylor Hall. Canterbury, Fassinger and the three company commanders developed a plan to envelope the students and push the crowd over Blanket Hill. The company commanders ordered their men to "lock and load" their weapons, fix bayonets, and adjust their protective masks. As the grenadiers fired their first CS tear gas rounds, 125 Guardsmen stepped off toward them and into history.
The shouting protesters allowed themselves to be pushed back at first. But as the troops approached the Blanket Hill base, they came under an intense shower of rocks, bricks and pieces of concrete with protruding steel rods, which the protesters had stockpiled. The Guardsmen began taking casualties.
Company C had six men hurt, three of whom needed hospital treatment including one man hit in the mouth, breaking some teeth. Ten men in company A were injured, one of whom was struck seven times by projectiles. Thirty-three soldiers in troop G were hit. Several of had broken bones and cut faces.
Amid thick clouds of gas, about 70 Guardsmen crested the hill, moving to the left of a metal sculpture, nicknamed the "Pagoda." After some maneuvering, which pushed the protesters into a parking lot by Prentice Hall (a dorm overlooking the hill), the troops moved to the right side of the Pagoda. The soldiers ran out of tear gas and the crowd moved toward them.
The barrage of rocks increased, continuing to injure men. The troops felt cut off and many later said they feared for their lives. Suddenly, the shouting was broken by an unidentified gunshot followed by more gunfire as Guardsmen shot into the crowd.
Despite extensive federal, state and private investigations, no one has ever determined who actually fired the first shot. No order was given.
Many of the Guardsmen and some bystanders in the crowd said they heard a single shot from Prentice Hall, which was quickly followed by a ragged volley from the troops.
Though various sources give different numbers of Guardsmen shooting and the number of rounds fired, the official accounts state 16 men fired between 35 and 40 rounds, all from M-1 rifles. Of the 13 people shot, four were killed.
According to Guard records based on a medical examiner's report, one of the students was struck by a non-military round in the back of the head, though the bullet was never produced as evidence.
A search of Prentice Hall uncovered firearms but none had been recently fired. A metal sculpture near the Pagoda, which was behind the troops when they fired, has a bullet-type hole, indicating the round came from the area of the crowd, toward the soldiers....
The crowd and the Guardsmen were stunned. For a moment, a hush fell over the scene as the last of the gas and rifle smoke cleared. Then the silence was broken by protesters shouting "Kill the Pigs!" and other curses.
However, they maintained their distance and stopped throwing rocks. The troops, some still in shock, reformed their ranks and marched without interference back to their start point and surrendered their weapons. Their ammunition was counted, but the number of rounds issued remains unclear.
The university president closed Kent State for the rest of the school year. There were detailed federal and state investigations.
An Ohio grand jury refused to charge any Guardsmen with criminal conduct. However, in 1974 the federal government charged eight men with violating the students' civil rights; but the case was later thrown out. In addition, the families of two of the dead students sued the governor and the State of Ohio in federal court, but settled the case in 1979 before a verdict was reached.
No Guardsman was ever convicted for the shooting.
****ing anarchists!
Battles erupted again the following afternoon between students and police. By midday, as the number of demonstrators grew and the level of violence increased, the police began losing control. Mayor LeRoy Satrom asked the governor to send Guardsmen to supplement the police in restoring peace.
Rhodes called Maj. Gen. S.T. Del Corso, Ohio adjutant general, and ordered him to immediately dispatch at least 400 men to Kent State.
Del Corso deployed men already on state duty for the truckers strike. He selected the 1st Battalion, 145th Infantry and the 2nd Squadron, 107th Armored Cavalry. Troops of the advanced elements were put in trucks and buses in Akron and began moving to Kent.
But by late afternoon, trouble on campus grew even more intense when protesters set fire to the ROTC building. When firemen arrived to bring the blaze under control, the rioters pelted them with rocks and cut their fire hoses. Demonstrators chanted anti-war slogans while the firemen stood by helplessly watching the building burn.
When the first Guardsmen arrived on campus about 9:30 p.m., they found the remains of the ROTC building still smoldering. They set up a perimeter, but most of the protesters had already left. Patrols were established around town and on part of the campus. The troops drove Jeeps, trucks and 15 M-113 armored personnel carriers, along with 17 helicopters to watch for large gatherings on campus.
As the Guardsmen deployed, the mayor met with the adjutant general and Brig. Gen. Robert Canterbury, the assistant adjutant general for Army, neither of whom assumed an active role in the command of troops. Lt. Col. Charles Fassinger of 1/145th Infantry was appointed as the on-site commander.
They decided in the meeting that the Guard would take control, as proscribed by law when local authorities request assistance. Following this meeting, the adjutant general left to visit another Guard operation. Canterbury remained in Kent.
Sunday morning and afternoon remained quiet. Some shop owners in Kent said they received anonymous calls telling them to post signs in their windows saying "Guard Go Home" and other anti-Guard slogans. But the troops experienced no trouble during their patrols. After authorities imposed an overnight curfew until 6 a.m. Monday, Guardsmen warned students in town to return to their homes. Most quietly complied.
It was only after Guardsmen started moving a crowd toward campus that rocks and bottles were thrown at them. The Guard responded with the only non-lethal tools they had -- CS gas. A moving battle took place, with 10 Guardsmen injured as they pushed protesters onto campus, where they dispersed around 11:30 p.m.
May 4 started quietly on campus. Following discussions with Guard and local officials, the school president decided to cancel the scheduled rally against the war. Though the campus radio station ran announcements of the cancellation, many students remained unaware of the change. While it was a regular day of classes, there were a number of non-students milling around, stirring up the anger of a small but vocal group of students. By late morning, the crowd had grown to about 2,500. Most of the protesters were located on a large open area known at the "Commons," near the charred remains of the ROTC building.
As the tempo of their anti-war, anti-military chanting intensified, they were encouraged by other students not participating in the protest.
Guard personnel around the ROTC building consisted of detachments from Companies A and C, 1/145th Infantry and Troop G of the 2/107th Armored Cavalry. They totaled about 125 men.
Most were armed with M-1 rifles and bayonets. Each man was issued live rounds, which they were ordered to load. Many of the NCOs carried pistols and a few senior NCOs were issued riot shotguns. Specially trained "grenadiers" carried M-79 grenade launchers to fire CS tear gas canisters farther than a man can throw.
Many of the soldiers were also supplied with CS hand grenades. These were the only non-lethal weapons the troops had available. At the time, the Guard was not issued crowd control batons or shields. The only protection the soldiers had were their steel helmets. They had no body armor or face shields, though they did wear protective masks.
As the crowd grew larger and more vocal, the troops became apprehensive. Most of the Guardsmen were about the same age as the protesters. Many were sympathetic to the students' cause. But they were sworn to enforce the law and found themselves growing uneasy as the shouting intensified.
Late in the morning, a police official, riding in a Guard Jeep, approached the students and read them an order to disperse or face arrest. The protesters pelted the Jeep with rocks, forcing it to retreat. One Guardsman was injured by shattered glass from the windshield and was the first of 50 soldiers who would be hurt in the next hour.
Canterbury, who was on-site by the ROTC ruins, asked troops to move the students off the Commons and to the other side of Taylor Hall. Canterbury, Fassinger and the three company commanders developed a plan to envelope the students and push the crowd over Blanket Hill. The company commanders ordered their men to "lock and load" their weapons, fix bayonets, and adjust their protective masks. As the grenadiers fired their first CS tear gas rounds, 125 Guardsmen stepped off toward them and into history.
The shouting protesters allowed themselves to be pushed back at first. But as the troops approached the Blanket Hill base, they came under an intense shower of rocks, bricks and pieces of concrete with protruding steel rods, which the protesters had stockpiled. The Guardsmen began taking casualties.
Company C had six men hurt, three of whom needed hospital treatment including one man hit in the mouth, breaking some teeth. Ten men in company A were injured, one of whom was struck seven times by projectiles. Thirty-three soldiers in troop G were hit. Several of had broken bones and cut faces.
Amid thick clouds of gas, about 70 Guardsmen crested the hill, moving to the left of a metal sculpture, nicknamed the "Pagoda." After some maneuvering, which pushed the protesters into a parking lot by Prentice Hall (a dorm overlooking the hill), the troops moved to the right side of the Pagoda. The soldiers ran out of tear gas and the crowd moved toward them.
The barrage of rocks increased, continuing to injure men. The troops felt cut off and many later said they feared for their lives. Suddenly, the shouting was broken by an unidentified gunshot followed by more gunfire as Guardsmen shot into the crowd.
Despite extensive federal, state and private investigations, no one has ever determined who actually fired the first shot. No order was given.
Many of the Guardsmen and some bystanders in the crowd said they heard a single shot from Prentice Hall, which was quickly followed by a ragged volley from the troops.
Though various sources give different numbers of Guardsmen shooting and the number of rounds fired, the official accounts state 16 men fired between 35 and 40 rounds, all from M-1 rifles. Of the 13 people shot, four were killed.
According to Guard records based on a medical examiner's report, one of the students was struck by a non-military round in the back of the head, though the bullet was never produced as evidence.
A search of Prentice Hall uncovered firearms but none had been recently fired. A metal sculpture near the Pagoda, which was behind the troops when they fired, has a bullet-type hole, indicating the round came from the area of the crowd, toward the soldiers....
The crowd and the Guardsmen were stunned. For a moment, a hush fell over the scene as the last of the gas and rifle smoke cleared. Then the silence was broken by protesters shouting "Kill the Pigs!" and other curses.
However, they maintained their distance and stopped throwing rocks. The troops, some still in shock, reformed their ranks and marched without interference back to their start point and surrendered their weapons. Their ammunition was counted, but the number of rounds issued remains unclear.
The university president closed Kent State for the rest of the school year. There were detailed federal and state investigations.
An Ohio grand jury refused to charge any Guardsmen with criminal conduct. However, in 1974 the federal government charged eight men with violating the students' civil rights; but the case was later thrown out. In addition, the families of two of the dead students sued the governor and the State of Ohio in federal court, but settled the case in 1979 before a verdict was reached.
No Guardsman was ever convicted for the shooting.
****ing anarchists!
Now more stupid people can kill each other!
Comment