Charles Dodson

Charles Dodson:
Dodson joined the Ohio National Guard near the end of his military term of service. Originally from West Virginia, he worked jobs in film and photography in Washington, D.C. and upstate New York, where he joined the Army Reserves in the mid-1960s. Upon moving to Ohio, he transferred into the National Guard unit stationed in Wooster. In 1970, he was servicing oil wells for Halliburton. A Specialist-4 in Company A, he was among the Guardsmen that detained student and FBI informant Terry Norman. Dodson's National Guard term ended a month after the Kent State shootings. Dodson now lives in central Florida.

Full Interview

Dodson, on right in gas mask, was one of the National Guard members that detained student Terry Norman on campus. Norman was photographing demonstrators for the campus police and the FBI, a fact that was initially denied by both agencies but later confirmed. In addition, Norman was the only person on campus other than a Guardsman who admitted to having a firearm at the scene.

This January 22, 1974, article from the Willoughby (OH) News Herald is referenced in the interview.