Our Two May Anniversaries....

 

 

                                          

"Remembering these events were not a good way to start out the merry month of May..."

This is quite a week for anniversaries. Neither one of them good. The first happened on Monday. It was the 45th anniversary of the Kent State shootings. The second anniversary is today. It marks the 50th anniversary of the Fridley tornado outbreak.

Kent State - I have addressed this issue before and got into a bit of trouble with a friend. I will try again to express what I remember of it as well as what I learned from it. For those who are too young to remember this day, I will try to give some background. Kent State is a medium sized college in Ohio. That campus, like so many in those days, was fraught with dissent due to the unpopularity of the draft as well as the Viet Nam War.

In April of 1970 and at the beginning of the following May, the social unrest at some colleges really started to spike. In Ohio, the Governor made a decision to call up the National Guard. You know, to help keep the peace. Turns out that was a big mistake. I was not in-county at that time - I was stationed on Okinawa, Japan. So I was only able to read about it in the Stars and Stripes. Many young men who joined the National Guard back then did so for a singular reason - to stay out of the draft. Many were ill equipped or trained. The focus of the Army back then were the forces in Viet Nam.

Something happened on that normally sleepy little campus in Ohio on that May 4th in 1970. Student protests continued to develop and get larger. Nobody is exactly sure what set off the Guard. A firecracker, a backfire, a thrown rock, or something. The Guardsmen had been issued live ammo (please don't ask me why) and then something spooked them into firing into the crowd.

After the cease fire had been given, four students lay dead. Others lay wounded. It was a mess and a stain on our history. Everyone had their hands dirty. The students who were disrupted class for others, the outside agitators who tried to shut down the campus, the Governor who overreached by calling out the National Guard, and the Guard itself for having live ammo on a college campus. It was a sad day, a bad day. A very good example on why a nationalized police force in this country is a terrible idea.

Fridley Tornados - Fifty years ago today for those of us old enough to remember, was a day of terror. Many who recall that day remember how green the sky was. The sirens which kept going off, over and over again. The seemingly endless onslaught of death and destruction from the sky.

When I worked at FMC in Fridley, there were pictures of the plant after the storm had hit. The building had hundreds upon hundreds of windows. Most all were broken by the storm. A man I worked with was a 6 year old boy when the storm hit. He was in the family car with his mother and brother. When his mother saw the tornado approaching, she tried to outrun it. She did not quite make it. The tornado caught up with the car and the force of the wind started to suck the little boy out  the back window. His mother was trying to hold on to him for dear life while still controlling the car. Somehow they all survived it, but it was the closest of calls.

Most of us old codgers who lived on the north side of town at that time have memories of this storm. Some have stories. Some had experiences which they will never forget. We are fortunate that in the Twin Cities, storms such as the Fridley tornados are rare. Down south they are not.

Two anniversaries in one week. Two very tough events taking place in a month we wait so long for. Now it is time to get back to enjoying the newness and greening which only happens during a Minnesota May.