• Twitter
  • Facebook
News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

War wounds

As noted earlier here, former Gov. Joe Kernan is returning to Vietnam for the first time since his release from a POW camp there. Guess old warriors can't help the urge to revisit the battlegrounds of their youth:

It's been 40 years since John Eckenrode was suspended from the University of Notre Dame for a sit-in during the Vietnam War, but he still remembers where he stood that day.

[. . .]

Ten students were suspended or expelled that day. They were dubbed the "Notre Dame Ten," and the case drew national attention.

Two of the 10 returned Wednesday for a 40th anniversary vigil and to reflect on the role of a Catholic university in times of war.

[. . .]

The two graduates, two former professors and about a dozen others gathered Wednesday morning on the front steps of the Main Building. A cold rain gently fell as the group prayed for those who died in the Vietnam War and for innocent victims of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A "cold rain gently fell" and blah, blah, blah. That's how we know those were serious times and these former protesters are somberly reflecting on their principled participation in disrupting their campus. The story notes with a touch of sadness that "Some wonder why today's students don't seem as interested and involved in moral issues."  I don't know who the "some" are that wonder this, but there is an answer.

Today's students ain't gettin' drafted, are they?

Posted in: History, Hoosier lore