Kent State

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STEPHEN BRADFORD EMERY



1LT - O2 - Army - Reserve
196th Light Infantry Brigade
23 year old Married, Caucasian, Male
Born on Jun 15, 1946
From WINCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
His tour of duty began on Feb 14, 1970
Casualty was on May 04, 1970
in QUANG TIN, SOUTH VIETNAM
Hostile, died of wounds
GROUND CASUALTY
GUN, SMALL ARMS FIRE
Body was recovered
Religion
CONGREGATIONAL CHRISTIAN

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[catman]

Thanks for the postings Sis, they will be remembered.

Trav

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LEON GARNETT JR



PFC - E3 - Army - Selective Service
11th Armored Cavalry
19 year old Single, Negro, Male
Born on May 09, 1950
From WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
His tour of duty began on Feb 28, 1970
Casualty was on May 04, 1970
in TAY NINH, SOUTH VIETNAM
Hostile, died of wounds
GROUND CASUALTY
MULTIPLE FRAGMENTATION WOUNDS
Body was recovered
Religion
BAPTIST

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JAMES FREDRICK HOPKINS



A1C - E3 - Air Force - Regular
20 year old Single, Negro, Male
Born on Sep 21, 1949
From NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Casualty was on May 04, 1970
in BIEN HOA, SOUTH VIETNAM
NON-HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY
BURNS
Body was recovered
Religion
BAPTIST

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[Arrow]

Out of here to go to work...

looks like this is going to take a couple of hours to get them all on here. But they will all be listed before I'm done.

Arrow>>>>>>>>>

[SEATJERKER]

...if anyone would pull for them it's you...

...I don't know how to run with it, but I thought it would be a fitting gesture to try...

[Keith_Hixson]

A couple hundrend guys in the Headquarters Co. trained for riot control. I had to go through riot control training. A two week course. The brass thought that maybe one of the great Universities in the Boston Area would have a riot. However that never occurred. But, Kent state took place shortly after I got out. I told my wife, they made a lot of mistakes, and I'm sure they weren't as well trained or disciplined as the regulars, sad situation to say the least. It should never have happened. From everything I've read the students were not a particular threat that day. However, they were a threat, there would have been a series of proceedures to process before using live ammunition. We were told we wouldn't be given live ammunition if we went to a riot. Our instructors felt that M-16 with bayonets would be a big enough threat to break up any crowd. I think handing out the live rounds was the big mistake! Someone should have been held responsible for that gross mistake.

Keith

[Packo]

happened, I can honestly say that I didn't give much of a sheet. My concerns were with the Sky Troopers fighting in Cambodia. Since that time I have read up some, not a lot, on the incident.

Most people are unaware that the Guardsmen had been in Cleveland fighting with Teamsters, who are a bunch tougher than hippies, for quite a while. I forget exactly how long they had been up there but at least a month seems to ring a bell. Once the hippies burned down the ROTC building the Governor had no choice but to bring them in. Federal property had been destroyed. The Guardsmen were already worn to a frazil before they got there. It stands to reason that with the amount of firepower each Guardman had with his M-1 and the amount of them that fired, surely had the majority of them actually aimed at the rioters, many more would have been killed. Even weekend warriors couldn't miss that many people in a crowd at that range. I believe the people killed and wounded in the parking lots were from the guys who fired over their heads intending to miss and not knowing ballistics and trajectory very well. Also agree that once someone shot, panic set in as many of us can relate to. (kinda like the garbage dump story Lt told)

Does any of this mean to be an excuse? No, but I just thank God I wasn't one of the Guardsmen at that time or more than 4 would be dead. I wasn't in any mood to see "the protected" waving NVA flags in my face. (I would have never fired first, but who knows once the firing began.) What happened there would not have happened had the hippies not burned down the ROTC building. They are EQUALLY culpable in the deaths of the 4 students and the wounding of the others. Had it just been a peaceful protest, like our Constitution guarentees, history would be different. I curse the vandals more than the Guard.

Packo

[PHO127]

Posse Comitatus, forbids the use of federal troops to enforce civilian law. Hense the use of National Guard troops to supplement the police and to enforce civilian law. Federal troops can only be used to protect federal property or military installations. TRAINING and DICIPLINE are the key words here, The NG units were not properly trained for riot control. When rioters start throwing rocks and molotov cocktails it takes a lot of training and dicipline to stand steady. BULLETS are not the immediate answer, However, I do not agree that they should be removed from the troops. Rioting, if not properly controlled, can easily escalate to Looting, burning and civil unrest. The Rodney King riots are an excellent example of what happens if not agressively contained. The LA police simply backed out of the area. The Ohio NG command structure for Kent State are the culprits. THE COMMANDER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING HIS TROOPS DO OR FAIL TO DO.

[82Rigger]

...while you are discussing this. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, or taking sides.
Here's some not-so-well-known info:

The students had petitioned for a peaceful protest at 11:00 AM on May 4. They wanted to protest the expansion of the war into Cambodia. The petition had been granted by the school administration. When the students began gathering for the protest, the campus also started filling with students changing classes and arriving for classes. Apparently the guard commander couldn't figure this out. He ordered EVERYONE to "disperse" even though school was in session and students were obligated to go to class. He backed up his demands with CS gas. The protesters felt they had been betrayed since they had been given right to protest. The students who were trying to go to class did not appreciate being gassed. That's when things started falling apart.

A curfew was in effect after the burning of the ROTC building, however, the guard commander initiated the curfew ON THE WEEKEND, while the students were off campus. Very few of the students knew about the curfew.

Two female students returning to their dorm from the library were accosted by guardsmen. They were bayonetted and then pushed backward through a plate glass window by rifle butts. One of them was pregnant.

In 1970, only two states sanctioned the issue of live ammunition for riot control. Ohio was one of them. The school administration was not made aware that the guard had live ammo. Teachers assured students that they did NOT have live ammo.

The guardsmen who fired their weapons were questioned during the investigation. A few stated that they fired into the air. Some stated that they fired into the parking lot, though not at specific targets. Some stated that they fired at specific individuals.

The girl who was killed who was not a protester, Sandra Scheuer, was crossing the parking lot on her way to her speech therapy class. She was wearing a bright red blouse.

More later.

Steve / 82Rigger