Brewster resident Joseph Bangert - one of the proverbial boys in the band. Back on the Cape, Bangert's twin brother, John, was watching Kerry's televised speech with his wife and their daughter. "She jumped up and said, 'there's my uncle in CNN!'" John Bangert said of his daughter, Claire, 11. "I think that John (Kerry) never forgot his friends and last night was an indication of that," John Bangert said yesterday.
Joe Bangert, 55, a decorated Marine who met Kerry in 1970 after both became activists against the war, spent five days working as a volunteer in Kerry's campaign. Bangert returned home yesterday, exhausted but still exhilarated. "I woke up this morning and I noticed all these guys my age were putting their military hats and jackets on," Bangert said. "I think there's a whole bunch of people who are finding out, through this campaign, that it's OK to be a veteran."
Kerry's candidacy holds potential as "catharsis for the Vietnam generation," he said. Bangert, of the Veterans for Kerry contingent, said Kerry has drawn together a formidable coalition of veterans, past and current anti-war activists and even some conservatives disenchanted with President Bush.
What they share, Bangert said, is anger at Bush and the federal government for cuts in veterans services and doubts that things will improve under the current commander-in-chief.
Bangert works as a volunteer teaching English to immigrant Brazilians in Hyannis. He may rejoin the campaign with other veterans heading to South Carolina from Boston this weekend. ( Or he may not) ;_ Anybodt have ideas? South Carolina for a long weekend sounds mighty fine to me. Yippie! Joe (Dioxin) Bangert :-) Monday night at 10, Kerry returned to campaign headquarters in Manchester for a final rally before the primary. Kerry spotted Bangert and called out his name, then embraced him.
His "job" is volunteer teacher to illegals? Is Kerry paying him? Has Kerry ALWAYS paid him to lie,I wonder.