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Infamous Names That Strike Terror
(April 24, 2010) |
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The Little Big Horn, everyone knows, was where General Custer and his 7th
Cavalry were completely wiped out by Native Americans. We have all seen the
Errol Flynn movie and witnessed how bravely the soldiers fought and died at
Custer's Last Stand. What is ingrained in Americans is when you hear the words
Little Big Horn you do not think of a river in Montana, you think of 210 solders
led to their death by a leader of questionable sound mind.
My Lai, two words that most Americans do not really want to hear about and know
very little of the facts of American involvement. On 16 March 1968 approximately
347-504 South Vietnamese citizens were massacred by US Army troops. Kent State,
a university in Ohio where on 4 May 1970 the Ohio National Guard opened fire on
protesting college students. Four people were killed and | |
Van E. Harl |
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nine were wounded. It will always be remembered from the photo of a fourteen
year old run-away female who is seen kneeling, screaming over the body of a dead
college student. |
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The Texas Tower massacre, this was were a gunman climbed up the tower in the
middle of the University of Texas campus and proceeded to shoot anyone he could
line up in his rife sights. Virginia Tech: where a mentally ill Korean student
went on a shooting spree at that university and killed 32 people in the matter
of a few hours.
Columbine is a flower. When Eisenhower was president, his aircraft, Air Force
One was called Columbine. In Colorado the name Columbine is and will always be
linked to death. However, it is not just Coloradoans, for most North Americans
(Canada has its problems with school shooting) when you hear the word Columbine
you think of the high school shooting: a shooting that killed twelve students
and a teacher in the Denver area. A campus massacre that the Nation and every
parent who has a child in a K-12 school system knows about and fears a repeat
shooting in their school.
In the nightly TV film footage and still photos we watched two fellow Columbine
students making their way through the high school campus summarily executing
their classmates. I was in the Denver area this past week augmenting the
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office as a Colorado Ranger. The annual Irish
Festival was occurring and it was being held in a park next to Columbine high
school.
I had been in the high school this past winter when my daughter was attending a
school function on that campus. A lot of money and effort was put into those
buildings after the shooting to clean up and remove any evidence of the carnage
that happened in those halls and classrooms. It is actually a very pleasant
looking campus and with the shooting happening in 1999 there are no students and
very few remaining faculty who were even there that day.
One of the things I found very interesting about the post massacre campus is the
school mascot. Columbine are the Rebels and their mascot is a 1776 Revolutionary
War soldier. I found pictures of the mascot prior to the shooting and he always
had a flintlock, period correct musket in his hand, but not now. On the wall in
the gym is a large mural of a Revolutionary War seen with explosions and smoke
in the background. You get the idea that a great battle is going on and the
soldier in the mural appears to have undergone combat trauma.
As an old infantry trained soldier myself, what I noticed instantly after
entering the gym was the Rebel in the mural did not carry his rifle. In the main
hallway there is a life-size manikin in a beautiful glass case, dressed in the
blue uniform of a 1776 Rebel soldier. The detail of the uniform and equipment
was excellent but instead of a rifle in the soldier's hand he carries a walking
stick.
The Rebel mascot of Columbine who is there to lead the fight for the high school
has had the fight taken out of him. I can only assume that the sight of a 200
year old single shot rifle can strike fear in the minds of some people who must
walk the halls of Columbine high school.
I visited the Columbine Memorial and I do understand the fear. Little Big Horn,
Mi Lai, Kent State, Texas Tower, Virginia Tech, and Columbine, words that
terrify with memories of past death and destruction, and a reminder that it will
happen again. | |
By
Van E. Harl
Copyright
2010 About Author:
Major Van E. Harl, USAF Ret., was a career police officer in the U.S. Air
Force. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the
Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. Major Harl is a graduate of
the U.S. Army Infantry School, the Air Force Squadron Officer School and the Air
Command and Staff College. After retiring from the Air Force he was a state
police officer in Nevada.
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