Chapter 4, August 27, 1970: Culture Clash

[bardicvoice]

Almost (but not quite!) too late for the day, here is my contribution to Day 4 of the 42 Days of Metallicar countdown -- a look into 1970.

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The Impala Chronicles (Forty-some Years In A Life), Chapter 4
August 27, 1970: Culture Clash

Comments

[sen1995]

Thanks, Mary. These stories have all been wonderful, but this one really hit close to home. In the spring of 1970, I was finishing up my sophomore year in an Ohio high school, plotting with my friends about what college we would go to in a few years, and Kent State University was on our short list. Then May 4 came to pass, and the horrifying events of that day changed everything for me. I guess it was like the end of innocence for me, and following and reading about Vietnam, watching the evening news, following casualty numbers and antiwar activists and demonstrations, etc., etc., came to consume much of my free time. Believe it or not, to my mother's horror, I ended up joining the Army when I graduated from high school in 1972 instead of going to college. Though I spent most of my enlisted time in Germany, I met many guys who had served in Vietnam but very few who wanted to talk about it.

The late 60s/early 70s was a strange time in our history, beginning really in 1968 with the assassinations of King and Kennedy, the triumph of the moon landing in 1969, and then 1970, with the near-tragedy of Apollo 13, the Kent State massacre, the deaths of Hendrix and Joplin, and the break-up of the Beatles, followed in 1971 with 18-year-olds being given the right to vote (resulting in my first vote - for McGovern - in 1972), the release of the Pentagon Papers, etc., etc., etc. Your stories are bringing much of this back, and I look forward to future installments.

Thanks again for sharing these stories with us. Boy, I feel old!

Deborah

[bardicvoice]

Thanks, Deborah! And I know what you mean about feeling old; revisiting those days is making me feel all of my years ... :)