Comments by Marty Wood at the rededication of the Kent State Memorial
May 5, 2003

I’m pleased to see so many here today, and very pleased that we are rededicating the Kent State Memorial.  It’s one of several little-known treasures here at UW – Eau Claire.  When I first arrived here seventeen years ago, no one mentioned the memorial in any orientation meeting or tour of the campus.  I didn’t learn about it for three or four years.

Since the moment those four unarmed students were shot, I’ve been unable to forget May 4^th, 1970, and Kent State.  For me it’s one of those events for which I remember exactly what I was doing when I first heard the news.  I was an active anti-war protestor in those days, and I remember immediately thinking that protesting had never seemed like something that could get you killed.   But the truth is, it’s rarely an easy matter to protest against your own government, especially in times of conflict.  People have been massacred by state governments all over the world for the same offense.  Amritsar, Prague, Sharpeville, Wounded Knee, Kent State, Jackson State, Derry, Soweto – just to name a few of the more recent occurrences. 

But each year around May 4^th, what I remember are the four dead in Ohio.  A few years after I came to UW – Eau Claire, I mentioned the anniversary to a colleague, and he told me that we have our own memorial to the victims of Kent State.  To be honest, I was quite surprised.  I found the site later that very day, and the four flowering crabapple trees were in full, glorious blossom.  I sat on the bench, and read the simple, eloquent statement engraved on the plaque.  I was moved, of course, but beyond this, I was impressed at the thoughtfulness and concern expressed by our institution.  There are memorials all across this country honoring those who have fallen in foreign wars, but none – none that I knew of, anyway – to honor those who fell at home exercising the very rights for which our soldiers fought.  One of those soldiers was a classmate of mine.  At the time, we disagreed about the Vietnam War – but our disagreement hardly matters now.  His name is carved on the Wall in Washington, DC.  Right here in Eau Claire, on the plaque, we can read four other young names.   Both memorials claim our honor and gratitude. 

Each year since that day, I’ve returned to the memorial to observe the anniversary.  Often the timing is perfect, and the crabs are again in full blossom.  You can’t help but admire their quiet beauty, and think about their meaning and their promise.  The memorial speaks more eloquently than I ever could about the continuing gift of life itself, the preciousness of young lives, and the vital importance of the rights for which these four young people, along with so many others, have made the ultimate sacrifice.  We honor them all with this memorial.