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Reflection and education at Kent State University's May 4, 1970 commemoration

Record-Courier

Kent State University senior Autumn Jacobs visited the site on campus Tuesday where four people were shot and nine wounded on May 4, 1970, and said she does so often.

“I always come out here every, every, every chance I get, especially [Tuesday] because this was a huge tragedy that should not have happened," she said.

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

William Schroeder, Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller and Sandy Scheuer were killed that day when Ohio National Guard troops opened fire on students and demonstrators.

May 4 memorial events at Kent State University were virtual, though visitors continued to pay respects in person. The James Russel marker shows where Russel was standing, 106 feet away, when he was struck and injured when Ohio National Guard troops opened fire. Taylor Hall is reflected in the window of the Annex.

Markers installed in remembrance of students injured, killed at Kent State

Jacobs said she’s happy to see the markers showing where the nine students who were wounded were located when they were shot.

The new markers were installed earlier this year and help give perspective to where the wounded students were standing as well as the location of the Ohio National Guard troops who fired the shots.

“They should have been installed a long time ago,” Jacobs said of the markers. “I love the fact that they're there and it shows who was killed and how far away they were from where the National Guard was.”

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While people came to campus to remember and reflect in person, the official commemoration of the 51st anniversary was held virtually, featuring talks by former students who were hit and injured by some of the 67 shots the Ohio National Guard fired off that afternoon.

“We must ensure that we prepare next generations to understand and remember the significance of that day, and how activism of the Kent State students shaped the course of history around the Vietnam War,” said Dr. Melody Tankersley, Kent State University senior vice president and provost.

May 4 memorial events at Kent State University were virtual, though visitors continued to pay respects in person. Liam O'Brien, Kent State first year Phd. student, stops in front of the Don Drumm scuplture with a bullet hole from May 4 1970. A marker for wounded student, John Cleary, is at the base of the sculpture.

Former Kent State students provide first-hand accounts of shootings

First-hand stories were shared via video footage of the late Alan Canfora, who died last year, John Cleary and others who were injured by the National Guard.

“At the time I was going to class, so I was basically at the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Cleary, who was standing near Taylor Hall when he was shot. “I was an innocent bystander. I think it’s important that you listen to the people who were there, who were eyewitnesses, because I think they give you a more objective viewpoint very often than what you read.”

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Canfora, the student waving the black flag in an iconic John Filo photo of the protest, was not a bystander, though.

“I knew my life was in danger, but at that time, I thought, ‘If I have to risk my life to make the most powerful statement that I can make, I’m going to do it,” Alan says in the video commemoration, which included some historical footage.

A black flag is placed at the marker for Alan Canfora at Kent State University to show where he was standing when he was shot and injured by Ohio National Guard troops on May 4, 1970. Canfora, who died in late 2020, was the man with long hair waving a black flag in front of the National Guard on Blanket Hill in a photograph taken by John Filo.

Canfora died in December after spending decades making sure May 4 was remembered and commemorated.

Canfora, who was among the closer students to the National Guard, was 176 feet away when he was wounded. To his sister, Chic Canfora, the National Guard seemed to be singling him out.

“I walked right up behind my brother, and I said, ‘Alan, they’re aiming right at you. This is getting really shaky,' she recalled. "And just as I said that, Troop G just started to move away in a V formation and start their ascent up the hill. And I asked him to come back to the parking lot.”

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When the National Guard began shooting, Canfora ducked behind a tree, and his wrist was struck by a bullet.

Thomas Grace, another of the students who was shot and wounded, also shared his memory of the event and his ride to the hospital. When he realized the National Guard was firing on the crowd, he turned and ran.

“I didn't get more than a step or two, and the bullet entered my left heel, knocked me on the ground,” he said. “That may have actually saved my life. I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance with Sandy Scheuer. She died right next to me in the ambulance. That's something I've never forgotten.”

Larry Hazard stands at a marker showing the spot where Alan Canfora was wounded on May 4, 1970, at Kent State University when Ohio National Guard troops opened fire on students and protesters, killing four and wounding nine. Hazard said he was a student at Kent State before continuing on to University of Texas, where he was on May 4, 1970. Canfora died late 2020.

Current Kent State students reflect on 1970 shootings

Mark Henry Abunda, a current Kent State student, said he has often reflected on the potential of the lives lost in 1970.

“I like reflect on what would happen if they never died at all, what these kids were like,” he said.

Reporter Bob Gaetjens can be reached at 330-541-9440, bgaetjens@recordpub.com or @bobgaetjens_rc.