Attacks on Kerry's service have backfired before

While serving as an officer on a Navy gunboat, Kerry earned a Silver Star, three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star. Back home, he joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

Years later, when Kerry ran for the Senate in 1984, a Democratic rival suggested that Kerry was a hypocrite for fighting in a war he didn't believe in. During a debate, Kerry sought an apology from his primary opponent, Jim Shannon, who instead responded, "That dog won't hunt."

So began the Doghunters, a group of a dozen-plus Vietnam veterans who traveled through Massachusetts to make the case for Kerry. They've done it in every Senate campaign since and plan to travel to New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina to push Kerry's White House candidacy.

"We're sort of brothers in blood, that's why I support him," said Wayne Burton of Durham, N.H., a retired Army captain and president of a Massachusetts community college who has been swayed by the group's campaign. "For people of my generation who have children who might be put at the risk of war ... I would prefer to have someone in office who understands how awful combat actually is."
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