New May 4 shooting site markers explain distance between Guardsmen, wounded students

Although this year’s commemoration will again be virtual, visitors to the site of the May 4, 1970, shootings at Kent State University may notice some additional markers. 

Laura Davis, Kent State University professor emerita of English and the founding director of Kent State's May 4 Visitors Center, said new markers indicate the location of the nine students who were wounded in the shooting, as well as the location of the National Guard troops who opened fire on them. 

Special Report:Remembering the Kent State shootings

An interactive map exists for those who wish to learn more about the shooting and events surrounding it.

Alan Canfora, one of the nine wounded students, was the “driving force” behind the installation of the new markers, she added. Markers were already in place for four students who died.

“He felt it was time to rethink the measurements for where the students stood, and consequently, you do that in relation to where the guard stood,” she explained. 

Canfora, who died in December, studied the shooting for decades after the event, she said. 

Photos:Remembering the May 4, 1970, shootings at Kent State University

Photos:Remembering Alan Canfora, Kent State May 4, 1970, survivor

“He understood how the original measurements came about and really the lack of a truly formulaic approach to recording all those distances which we consider so important to telling the story,” she said, adding they were measured last year using surveying methodology.

Dean Kahler, one of the wounded students, said distance is important because the National Guard in the aftermath of the event claimed they were under attack. 

“It will definitely show the public who go there how great a distance we were from the National Guard and that we really posed no threat,” he said. “That lie still continues that we were about to pounce on them.”

In reality, the wounded students ranged from a little under 100 feet to more than 600 feet away from the National Guard, according to the new markers.

Kahler said he was about 100 yards away, just a little farther than Jeffrey Miller, the closest of the four students who were killed, which also included Allison Krause, Sandy Schreuer and William Schroeder.

Because of the distances involved, Kahler said the National Guard was under no immediate threat from the students. 

“I could throw a baseball about 80 yards, but I couldn’t throw 100 yards,” he said. “Kids were scattered out a lot. The most concentrated area of people was on the veranda of Taylor Hall.

Davis and Kahler both said the range and accuracy of the weapons played a role in the shooting. 

“I can tell you the weapons they carried that they shot — the M1 Garand rifle — has an effective kill range of approximately one mile, and the bullet has a range of a little more than a mile," said Kahler.

Interactive:See how May 4, 1970, events played out with interactive story

The student farthest from the Guardsmen who was injured was Donald Scott Mackenzie who was 603 feet away on the opposite side of what is now Midway Drive. 

“All you have to do is stand at the pagoda and look to see where the students were killed,” said Davis. “The lives of the Guardsmen were not in danger from any of the students. The measurements are the story of the site.”

The 10 new markers (including the one at the National Guard’s location) will be featured in a video during this year’s virtual May 4 commemoration. The video will premier at noon May 4 and feature the markers and the nine wounded students, which include Mackenzie, Kahler, Canfora, John Cleary, Thomas Grace, Joseph Lewis, James Russell, Robert Stamps and Douglas Wrentmore. 

Reporter Bob Gaetjens can be reached at bgaetjens@recordpub.com and @bobgaetjens_rc.