[Rtrorkt]

For those of us of a certain age, 1968-1974 were very weird, stressful times. As I noted above, I was in school in Ohio at the last college that stayed open after Kent State. The crowd descended on Athens about 3 days after the shooting. Lots of protests, sit ins, workshops and just a bit despair that the guardsmen open fire and were given live ammunition. I remember going to an encampment of local townie cops, state police and sheriffs who were just outside of town with the express goal of “busting college kids heads” which they did. I can still remember the chaos, tear gas and violence. Not a good way for my sophomore year to end.

Like many I was anti-war, however, most of us were not ant-solder as they were our brothers, sisters, high school and college friends. We thought we were doing them a favor in trying to end the war and get them home. Most may not agree with that statement, but all but the most radical believed that.

I was in the first lottery. My number was 255 which effectively took me out of the draft. Many in my dorm who watched the first lottery on TV had numbers less than 100. Many have their names on the wall. The saddest day was when my friend came back from SE Asia and found no support.

An interesting side note, in the mid-‘70s’ my dad told me that if I had been drafted he and my mother would have suggested that I go to Canada. This from a Marine who found in the Pacific and served during Korean War and who would have been seen as one of Nixon’s “silent majority”.

So remember that Americans have killed Americans in a sanctioned action after the civil war. I think history has proven that war to be unjust and unnecessary.