European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 2, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                May 4,disaster at Kent state. Soldiers arc gunning us Down what if you knew her and found her dead on the ground How can you run when you know four dead in Ohio. A from Quot Ohio Quot Crosby stills and Nash july 1970. By George Esper associated press Ean Kahler hugged the grass of the practice football Field. Bullets were ricocheting off the Blacktop Road no More than 40 feet away. Quot of my god they re firing Quot he said to himself. Then a sudden sting not much More than a pin prick at his Back. It was the Only pain he Felt. He would never walk again. A Bullet fired through Jeffrey Millers Mouth and Skull and slammed him to the ground. As his blood pooled along a Concrete curb a 14-year-old runaway Knelt Over him in anguish her arms Flung skyward her face contorted in bewildered terror. A 13-second fusillade by National guardsmen turned anti War dissent into disaster on a May monday 20 years ago this Friday at Kent state University. Four students were killed and nine others wounded stunning a nation already fragmented by five years of a Distant conflict. By april 1970, More than 100 Young americans and probably thousands of vietnamese North and South were dying each week in Distant Jungles and Rice paddies. But now the War had claimed victims at Home four kids on a Blue Collar Campus amid the Pancake Flat far Fields of Ohio. Even so a Gallup poll taken for Newsweek within Days of the shootings indicated that 58 percent of the Public blamed the demonstrators and backed the Ohio guardsmen. The mourning parents received hate mail almost three More years would pass before the United Mary Vecchio a 14-year-old runaway who happened to be on the Campus at the time screams Over the body of a student shot to death when Ohio National guardsmen fired into a crowd of anti Vietnam War demonstrators at Kent state University on May 4,1970. Four students were killed in the fusillade. A killed at Kent state William Schroeder Lef Tallison Krause Jeffrey Miller and Sandra Lee Scheuer. A Gallup poll taken within Days of the shootings indicated so percent of the american Public blamed the demonstrators and backed the Ohio guardsmen. Mourning parents received hate mail. A states ended its military role in Vietnam although some families of the dead believe the Kent state killings hastened that end. Quot i believe the War in Vietnam was brought to a quicker close because of it Quot said Florence Schroeder of Lorain Ohio whose 19-year-old son William died that Day. Quot that is our Only reason to have Ever filed the lawsuits to make sure the event gets its proper historical  the significance of dead students on american soil was powerful. Dissent against . Involvement in Vietnam had built slowly since combat troops were sent in March 1965. But by 1970, campuses were in turmoil Over the increasingly unpopular War. President Richard Nixon was seen As the villain and he returned the sentiment in kind. The president assailed the More vocal anti War protesters As  his vice president Spiro Agnew suggested in april that universities Deal with their protesters like nazis Quot the next time a mob of students waving their non negotiable demands starts pitching bricks and rocks at the student Union a just imagine they Are wearing Brown shirts or White sheets and act  adding to the boiling tension was the fact that every Young Man s birthday was potentially a ticket to Vietnam. From 1969 to 1973, the military draft was a lottery based on birth dates. Quot the Black Cloud of Vietnam and the draft were hanging Over their Heads a said Kahler then a 20-year-Oid freshman and conscientious objector from Canton Ohio. Thomas Lough was one of Many professors who Felt they did t dare give a male student a failing Grade Quot that would kill him Quot said Lough who teaches sociology at Kent state. Quot they d be eligible for selective service it they were flunked out of school. Their lives were on the  on april 30, student dissenters around the country listened in disbelief As Nixon announced on nationwide television the invasion of Neutral Cambodia by . Troops Bent on destroying communist Border sanctuaries. Just the previous july Nixon had begun a phased withdrawal and tens of thousands of american men were already Back Home. Now americans were fighting on a new front. Some students had lost Brothers and childhood friends in the War. They did t want to kill or to be killed. Protests broke out at one third of the nation s 2,500 colleges. The Day after Nixon a speech perhaps 500 anti War protesters rallied peacefully at noon on the Kent state commons then planned to gather again monday. But that night the first warm evening of the year a Small crowd of students and townies spilled from a string of bars in downtown Kent. Early festive Ness turned to angry shouts and anti War slogans a passing police Cruiser dodged Beer  crowd by Midnight swollen to 500 people lit a Asp Page 14 a a a the stars and stripes wed esd