Recordpub.com - Ex-Guardsman Larry Shafer: Never heard command to fire

By Dave O"Brien

Record-Courier staff writer

Joseph Lewis leaned on a cane Tuesday as he spoke with reporters about being wounded May 4, 0 by two bullets fired by Ohio National Guardsmen at Kent State University students.

The cane was not due to his wounds -- Lewis was struck in the abdomen and the leg -- but because of a recent hip replacement to treat arthritis he said "may or may not be" a result of his wounding.

Lewis returned to Kent to participate in Alan Canfora"s announcement that he has found new audio evidence of an order by someone in the guard to fire on the students, who were protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Canfora, who was shot in the wrist, found the alleged order on an audiotape he found while conducting research on his memoir.

"I always felt the decision was made, on orders, to fire at the top of the hill" next to Taylor Hall where the guardsmen turned and fired 67 shots, Lewis said, calling the shootings "a Nixon administration attempt to stop dissent in America."

One of nine students wounded that day, Lewis admitted he was making an obscene gesture at guardsmen when shots rang out. Four other students were killed by gunfire.

Now 55 and living in Oregon, to this day Lewis believes it was guardsman Larry Shafer who shot him that day 37 years ago.

Shafer went on to become a Ravenna firefighter, rising to the rank of chief, before he retired. He now is a Ravenna councilman.

Shafer said Tuesday he was unaware of any such tapes existing.

"I never heard any command to fire. That"s all I can say on that. That"s not to say there may not have been, but with all the racket and noise, I don"t know how anyone could have heard anything that day," he said,

"Right here. Get set. Point. Fire," the commands Canfora said can be heard on the tape, are not what guard officers would have said under the circumstances, Shafer added.

"That wouldn"t have been the appropriate vernacular anyhow. They wouldn"t have said "point,"" he said. "I don"t know if what (Canfora) has is what he says he has or not. I have no idea."

Shafer also said while he fired his weapon May 4, 0, he does not believe he is the guardsman who shot Lewis.

"The ballistics didn"t prove anything. (Lewis) was closest to me, I saw him fall. I understand there were several others close to me that fired too. I don"t know who hit who," he said.

Despite Shafer"s assertions that he does not know if his shots hit anyone, Lewis still believes it was Shafer who fired at least one of the bullets that struck him. He said Tuesday he forgives Shafer for his actions.

"I"ve not spoken with him (Shafer) because last time he spoke he said he was afraid for his life and his family, that something would happen to them. He and I know that"s not true," Lewis said. "I send my best wishes to him."

E-mail: dobrien@recordpub.com

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6.	Posted by mg47s1 May 5, 2007
	If no command to fire was given then all thosse who shot were acting on their own ? why did they shoot? Let us not forget that the National Guard at the time was maade up of lots and lots of guys that only joined to stay out of the military and avoid going to Vietnam. I knew many of the local guys in the guard at the time and that was always given as the reason they were in. So aside from boot camp and 2 weeks in the summer how military correct was the guard- werent a lot of the guard just as young and impressionable as the students?many were students as well and those that I knew werent too keen on the war either and were as confused and questioning as the rest of us. Let it go... Oh ya, sure, just another one of those things that happens and we cant expect any answers that make sense to us. Stifle the thinking, the questioning, why? Why do I have to stop wondering, questioning, trying to make sense out of what happens around me ? why is asking questions seen as bothersome , unpatriotic, trouble making or at minimum seen in a negative light. Just be satisfied with the "pitch" doesnt cut it - it never did. Maybe people are just tired of being "pitched". whats wrong with refusing to accept the "pitch"? we are expected to accept and believe without question or critical reasoning everything from what will make us healthy, better looking,and politically correct. It seems that there continues to be a cry from a growing number of people around the country for accountability on the part of our leadership. The same accountibility we are held to and taught is a basic tenant of our society. Or doesnt that apply if you are rich enough, or powerful enough or hidden by layers of bureacracy? Maybe some are trying to sell some books. Maybe some people just think we have yet to arrive at the truth regarding May 4th and so many other events - or are we really supposed to buy the single bullet "pitch" in the JFK assasination...

1.	Posted by mrm4814 May 2, 2007
	Thank you Mr. Shafer for helping to clear things up. I agree, and several other military officers I have questioned all agree, that the phrase, "Get set, point, fire" is no where NEAR what military officers or commanders use during battle. The US Military trains soldiers, and officers and commanders, by drilling and drilling and drilling certain behaviors into them, so that they become second nature during a combat situation. No officer would have have used that phrase to order his troops to engage in a firefight. There has been alot of discussion that another shooter fired on the guardsmen first. Maybe the voice on the tape would be that of the out-of-town radicals that came to campus and fired the first shot? I find it hard to believe that Nixon gave an order to shoot the students at KSU and it traveled all the way down the chain of command, and not one person has come forward to disclose that. Heck, we even know who Deepthoat is, now. Stop trying to sell more books, and let it go.