Sandra Lee Scheuer
Sandra Lee Scheuer (pronounced as Aussprache [ˈʃɔʏər], August 11, 1949 - May 4, 1970) was a student at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, when she was killed by Ohio National Guardsmen in the Kent State shootings.
Scheuer, born in Youngstown, Ohio, was an honors student in speech therapy. She did not take part in the Vietnam War protests that preceded the shootings. She was shot through the throat with an M-1 rifle from a distance of 130 yards (119 meters) while walking between classes. She died within five or six minutes from loss of blood. According to the account of Bruce Burkland, a close family friend, Scheuer "was walking with one of her speech and hearing therapy students across the green. Neither Sandra nor the young man had anything to do with the assembly of students on the green, but yet, as an innocent passerby, Sandra was the victim of a confused National Guardsman's rifle."[1]
Three other students were killed in the shootings: Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, and William Knox Schroeder.
The shootings led to protests on college campuses throughout the United States, causing hundreds of campuses to close because of both violent and non-violent demonstrations. The Kent State campus remained closed for six weeks. Five days after the shootings, 100,000 people demonstrated in Washington, D.C., against the war.
Just after Scheuer's death, the English songwriter Harvey Andrews composed a song entitled "Hey Sandy", whose lyrics are addressed to her:
- "Did you see them turn, did you feel the burn
- Of the bullets as they flew?"
Furthermore, in the song "Ohio", which was written within weeks of the shootings and became a protest classic and concert staple, folk rocker Neil Young made a likely reference to Scheuer in the chorus, which runs as follows:
- "Gotta get down to it
- Soldiers are cutting us down
- Should've been done long ago.
- What if you knew her,
- And found her dead on the ground,
- How can you run when you know?"
Scheuer had been a member of the Alpha Xi Delta sorority, and current members of this sorority speak in her memory each year on the Kent State University campus at the May 4 Task Force's commemoration of the 1970 tragedy.
Notes
References
- Jedick, Peter (2006). "Rawls' Death Brings Back Sad Memory." Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), February 13, 2006, D3.
External links
- Sandy Scheuer page from May 4 Archive