Ex-Marine biking to put stamp on Beirut bombing
By Cori Bolger, cbolger@altoonamirror.com
PETERSBURG - Bolstered by clear weather and the beauty of fall foliage, Mike Bangert isn't slowing down on his 550-mile bicycle ride to honor those lost in the 1983 Beirut bombing.
After leaving Huntingdon County Oct. 10, Bangert rode to McConnellstown and then spent the next day riding mostly downhill from northern Maryland to Washington, D.C.
Calling on his cell phone earlier last week, Bangert said his trek on the 190-mile Chesapeake & Ohio Canal biking trail was easy, save for a sore behind.
''Wow, this is incredible,'' he said. ''I'm looking at the Potomac River, and the trail is just awesome.''
Bangert, a 45-year-old Petersburg resident and hobby cyclist, hopes to make it to Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base in Jacksonville, N.C., by Tuesday to attend the 25th anniversary ceremony of the Beirut bombing.
Jacksonville is home to the Beirut Memorial, a wall with the names of the 268 American service people killed by a car bomb in 1983 during the multinational peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. The blast mostly killed members of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment.
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