That Was A Sad Day In The USA
John Cleary was wounded on May 4, 1970, when soldiers of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of unarmed students at Kent State University protesting the Vietnam War. Four students died that day and nine were seriously wounded. A few weeks ago, John Cleary died. I gotta tell ya, I’ll never forget that day, seeing American soldiers firing at and killing American college students.
Cleary died recently at 74. He was captured in a famous Life magazine cover photo. The Ohio National Guardsmen fired 67 rounds in 13 seconds at the crowd. He wasn’t really one of the protestors. He’d headed over to the site to see what was going on and get a photo. He never got the shot off. Instead, he took a shot to the chest and dropped. He said it felt like being hit with a sledgehammer. Wrong place, wrong time.
After seeing the Life cover photo, Neil Young of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young quickly wrote the song “Ohio.” The band recorded it just as fast, and it became an essential anthem of the protest movement. Brian VanDeMark released a book last year, Kent State: An American Tragedy. That’s exactly what it was.
Frail and weak, Cleary returned to Kent State this past May for anniversary events. A student organization chose him to ring the bell to honor the victims. Professor Roseann Canfora said, “It was an unforgettable moment. There were tears everywhere.”
RIP John Cleary. Keep your dukes up.
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