Voices of the Wounded

Joseph Lewis was a Freshman at Kent State in 1970. He was against the US invading Cambodia during the Vietnam war. He attended the protest that was taking place on his collage campus with good intentions. Two bullets entered him, and Josephs parents believed that he had done something wrong to deserve it. It took a bit of time to convince them that what they had read in the news paper was not what happened that day. The bullets that hit Joesph went into his lower right abdomen and about six inches above his left ankle. He was close to dying from these injuries. After being in the intensive care unit, Joseph dropped out of Kent State University. He moved to Oregon two years later.
Jim Russel was a senior at Kent State when the shootings happened. He was hit in the right thigh and above his eye. After he was shot, he stumbled into Lake Hall where their were two student nurses. The secretary of that hall was rude, and tried to stop the nurses from helping Jim who was bleeding immensely. He had to wait for an ambulance to return on campus to take him to the hospital. After the shootings in 1975, Jim left Ohio and moved to Oregon, like Joseph, where he felt more 'part of a system'. Many things changed after the shooting, and many elders in the Kent State community looked down upon him because they believe he was part of the 'problem'. He and his dad both lost their jobs from being associated with the protest.
I don't agree with the way many people looked at the shooting. Most elders believed what they were reading in news papers such as the people who protested were the 'worst kind of people'. How were they bad when they were protesting an invasion? That's my question to them. I understand that the town was scared the students and other violent protesters may threaten the state, and that is why the national guard was called. But, why did the national guard open fire at unarmed students? They cry self defense, I cry unfair government. Their shooting was not justified in my eyes and I don't believe it ever will be.


Sources: http://www.burr.kent.edu/archives/may4/shot/shot2.html
http://www.burr.kent.edu/archives/may4/shot/shot3.html
http://kent.state.tripod.com/2009.html

The Heros

May 4, 1970

Protesters Wounded + Distance from the National Guard:

Joseph Lewis Jr.; 71 ft; hit twice in the right abdomen and left lower leg
John R. Cleary; 110 ft; upper left chest wound
Thomas Mark Grace; 225 ft; struck in left ankle
Alan Michael Canfora; 225 ft; hit in his right wrist
Dean R. Kahler; 300 ft; back wound fracturing the vertebrae - permanently paralyzed from the chest down
Douglas Alan Wrentmore; 329 ft; hit in his right knee
James Dennis Russell; 375 ft; hit in his right thigh from a bullet and in the right forehead by birdshot - both wounds minor
Robert Follis Stamps; 495 ft; hit in his right buttock

Donald Scott MacKenzie; 750 ft; neck wound

People who were killed by National Guard bullets:

Jeffrey Glenn Miller; age 20; 265 ft shot through the mouth - killed instantly
Allison B. Krause; age 19; 343 ft fatal left chest wound - died later that day
William Knox Schroder; age 19; 382 ft = fatal chest wound - died almost an hour later waiting for surgery
Sandra Lee Scheuer; age 20; 390 ft fatal neck wound - died from loss of blood

These people were brave to attend this rally when authoritys didn't want them to. It is sad to know that they lost their lives when they were not armed and not rioting. Rest in Peace.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings