OHIO — It’s been 53 years since the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University demonstrators, killing 4 and wounding 9 others.
Every year since, people have returned to the memorial site to remember the lives lost, and those whose lives changed forever.
Doug Fuller was a sophomore at Kent State University in 1970, when the mayor of the city asked the governor to send the National Guard to Kent to keep the peace after tensions between anti-war protesters and police.
Fuller was on campus when the Ohio National Guard began shooting into a group of those protesters.
“When I heard the gunfire, I first thought the gunfire was firecrackers, someone setting off a string of fire crackers,” Fuller recalled. “[I] came immediately back up over the hill and saw that students were wounded and I didn’t realize at that point how many were killed.”
Fuller said he has made it a point to return to Kent State nearly every year on May 4 to pay his respects. This year was no different.
“I think what happened here is things that relate to what is happening in our society today,” he said. “We need to make sure the rights that we have as individuals are protected… People should be able to come to their campus and protest peacefully — as was done that day — and not get killed.”
Fuller was one of several volunteers who took turns standing at the memorial with a candle. They stood at spots that marked where each of the four students was killed, honoring Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder.
“I try to think of that person — Jeff Miller, in this case — and what I know about him, which isn’t a lot, but try to remember him,” Fuller said.
Then, at noon, Fuller and other volunteers walked from the memorial site to a commemoration held by the university.
At 12:24 p.m., the moment that the gunfire erupted 53 years ago, the victory bell was rung and there was a moment of silence.
“It’s one of those things that you remember almost everything that happened, every step you took that day,” he said. “[May 4] needs to be remembered.”
The university has a May 4 visitors’ center that is open to the public, so anyone can learn more about the events that transpired.
