Recordpub.com - Honoring May 4's fallen: 1970 events mournful memories for some, lessons for others

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Fran Schroeder. mother of the slain William Schroeder, stands in front of a large crowd and speaks about her experience of when she learned her son was killed at the 40th anniversary of the Kent State Shootings.

Lydia Hartzler and her dad Joe watch the ceremony throught the gap in the Victory Bell during the 40th anniversary of the Kent State shootings on May 4th, 2010.

By Matt Fredmonsky

and Dave O’Brien

Record-Courier staff writers

For Florence Schroeder, the death of her son, William, at the hands of Ohio National Guard troops 40 years ago cast her on a journey that again took her back to Kent State University.

Mrs. Schroeder, who is 90 years old, joined 14 other speakers Tuesday in commemorating the 40th anniversary of the May 4, 1970, shootings by the Ohio National Guard that left her son dead along with fellow students Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller and Sandra Scheuer.

“My talk is not about Bill,” she said after taking the stage on the Commons behind Taylor Hall. “It’s about all of us who are here.”

She recalled the early meetings of the family members of those four killed and nine wounded — the “Kent State families.” Together, they took trips to Washington, D.C., to testify, meet with members of Congress and talk with judges on the Supreme Court about the shootings.

“With the help of our attorneys, we were able to inform the public of the true facts,” she said. “As much as they were available.”

She thanked all those who helped the families over the years with their struggle to tell the nation, and the world, about what happened on May 4, 1970.

“The death of a child is heartbreaking, but life goes on,” she said. “I believe our efforts to prevent another Kent State tragedy have been rewarded with a new resolve for peace and good will.”

Schroeder spoke after Russ Miller, the older brother of Jeffrey Miller, who recalled facing a moral dilemma with his brother that so many young students in the 1970s faced.

As brothers, they talked about the draft and what each would do if his number came up beckoning military enlistment for the Vietnam War. Jeffrey Miller adamantly opposed violent military action and would have gone to Canada if he was drafted, Russ Miller said.

“He would sacrifice everything if he was forced to choose,” he said.

Russ Miller and Florence Schroeder were the only two family members of the four students killed to address the crowd of several hundred who gathered around Taylor Hall Tuesday.

Barry Levine, a good friend of Allison Krause, spoke on her behalf. He recalled that they held hands as they ran together from the guardsmen. Krause, shot in the back three times, died in his arms.

Krause was demonstrating her right to free speech, and she paid for that right with her life, Levine said. Her death had nothing to do with bottles and rocks thrown at guardsmen.

“But it had everything to do with the right of free speech, the right of free assembly and the oppression of those rights,” Levine said.

Sarah Franciosa, a current KSU student, spoke on behalf of Scheuer as a fellow sorority sister of Alpha Xi Delta. In preparing for her speech, she spent weeks reading through personal letters Scheuer sent to friends and family about dating, looking for summer work and the sorority.

Mary Vecchio, immortalized in John Filo’s Pulitzer-winning photograph of her kneeling over Miller’s body, also spoke Tuesday.

“Forty years is a long time to reflect,” she said, adding that today she finds herself thinking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I say to myself, ‘Have we really learned?’”

The commemoration was marked this year as it is annually with the marching of candles from the four memorials in the Prentice Hall parking lot down to the stage in the commons. At approximately 12:24 p.m., the Victory Bell rang 13 times to remember those killed and wounded 40 years ago when 67 rounds were fired within 13 seconds. Doves took flight as the ringing bell echoed across the Commons.

Those who came to Kent State University and the memorial Tuesday were met with warm sun, cool breezes and memories of the four students slain on May 4, 1970.

People and dogs mingled with numerous photographers around Taylor Hall and the Commons. The large crowd that gathered there cheered heartily for Black Panther Party founder Bobby Seale, who gave a history of his activities during the late 1960s.

As with past commemorations, the Prentice Hall parking lot and area surrounding Taylor Hall became a canvas for chalk-bearing artists.

“Where were the rubber bullets?” was scrawled on the abstract Don Drumm sculpture standing between Taylor Hall and the Prentice lot.

Other chalk writings alluded to slain student Sandy Scheuer and the death Sunday of her mother, Sarah, at age 86 in a Youngstown hospice.

“Sandy/Martin/Sarah/Together again R.I.P.” one read.

13.	Posted by onesmallvoice May 5, 2010
	If crimes were commited, that is where due process comes in. You cant just fire into a crowd of people because there may or may not be people somewhere in it who may or may not have committed crimes. You arrest suspects, prosecute them, and then send them to jail if and when they are convicted. The guard acted as nothing short of storm troopers. Everyone there thought it was over. Much of the guard and many of the students had left at the time of the shootings. The guard was under no threat at all when a portion of them marched up the hill in unison to the best vantage point to shoot into the dispersing crowd below. They marched in unison, then turned in unison, and fired in unison directly into the crowd that included students walking to and from class, thinking it was all over. You can't do that with just one faked order or in response to one faked shot. The guard was responding to a series of orders from a superior and it is a poorly kept secret who. What if the proof shows that windows were broken, fires were started and hoses were cut by opposition plants, looking to cause trouble for the protestors (remember similar recent claims by tea baggers). It was at best a fringe group of extremists that did not represent the non violent, hippie, Woodstock nation vast majority of pacifist protestors. We all know how those same tea baggers react to being lumped in with their spitting, hate mongering, racist extremist fringe. Do the research, take the walking tour, check out the facts. Don't just follow the idealogical cover story full of obvious lies that the government has put over on you for years. The tea baggers have one thing right - don't trust the government. You have no idea what they are capable of. Just one more quick and verifiable fact. William Schroeder, an ROTC student on his way back from class, was shot in the back while laying on the ground 480 feet from the closest guardsman.