#section 60

Captain Brian S. Letendre, 27, of Woodbridge, Virginia, was killed in action in Al Anbar province on 3 May 2006. He was leading a combined force in an isolated outpost. AQ launched a complex attack that killed him and seriously injured another Marine capt.

Letendre was born in California and raised in Woodbridge, where he graduated from Potomac High School in 1996. He joined the Marines in 2000 after graduating from Milligan College in Tennessee.

He served in OIF as commander of 1/2's CAAT team for which he was recognized with the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with a Combat "V" for valor. His decorations also include BSV and PH.

Stephen Fowler, Quil Lawrence, and Tom Bowman at NPR:

One of two staffers involved in the altercation at Arlington National Cemetery is a deputy campaign manager for Donald Trump’s reelection bid, NPR has learned. The former president insisted this week the incident did not happen, highlighting a growing disconnect between the messaging of the candidate and his campaign. NPR is identifying both staffers after the campaign’s conflicting responses to the incident last week outside Section 60 of the cemetery, where many casualties of Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. The two staffers, according to a source with knowledge of the incident, are deputy campaign manager Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, a member of Trump’s advance team.

Caporale is a one time aide to former first lady Melania Trump who left the White House to work for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis before returning to the Trump campaign. He was also listed as the on-site contact and project manager for the Women for America First rally in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021 where Trump urged the crowd to “stop the steal” before some of them stormed the U.S. Capitol. After Trump participated in a wreath laying ceremony on the third anniversary of the deadly bombing at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. service members, Trump visited Section 60 at the invitation of some family members and friends of the fallen soldiers. ANC rules, that had been made clear to the Trump campaign in advance, say that only an official Arlington photographer can take pictures or film in Section 60. When an ANC employee tried to enforce the rules, she was verbally abused by the two Trump campaign operatives, according to a source with knowledge of the incident. Picard then pushed her out of the way according to two Pentagon officials.

The campaign’s conflicting messaging on the incident

After NPR first reported the altercation last week, campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said they were “prepared to release footage” of the incident, and attacked the Arlington employee as someone “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.” Cheung also said they were granted access to have a photographer present, and pointed to a statement from Gold Star family members that invited Trump to attend the ceremony. The campaign also released a TikTok video that included video footage from Section 60, including a smiling Trump flashing a thumbs up with family members at the gravesites. But other tombstones are visible in the picture, and at least one family of a fallen Green Beret has confirmed they did not give permission for his grave to be filmed or used in a campaign ad.

The Army released a statement last Thursday acknowledging that a cemetery employee “was abruptly pushed aside” and the campaign was warned ahead of time of the prohibition against photography and political activities at Arlington. The Army said the cemetery employee tried to de-escalate the situation after she was pushed, in hopes of not upsetting the Gold Star families in attendance. The Army said a police report of the incident was filed, but that the employee had declined to press charges, and that the Army considered the matter closed, but added that “the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.” When NPR emailed both Caporale and Picard, Cheung responded, “I see you've been emailing some of our team members…As the Army has said, they consider this matter closed. President Trump was there to support the Gold Star families and honor the sacrifices their loved ones made.” Cheung also included a social media post that shows a Biden campaign ad from 2020 that used images of the then-vice president at the cemetery in 2010.

NPR identified the two Trump campaign team members who caused the altercation at the Arlington National Cemetery’s Section 60: Justin Caporale and Michel Picard.

See Also:

Fox gave immediate fawning coverage to Trump’s campaign visit, which broke federal law despite his staff being warned prior

Written by Lis Power & Emma Mae Weber

Research contributions from Tyler Monroe

Published 08/29/24 5:00 PM EDT

In what has now turned into a national controversy, former President Donald Trump made a political appearance at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday — despite the Trump team being warned explicitly that campaigning over veterans’ graves was against the law — and Fox News wasted no time cheering him on.  

NPR reported that while at the cemetery on the anniversary of the 2021 Abbey Gate attack in Afghanistan, members of Trump’s staff got into an altercation with an Arlington National Cemetery official who attempted to enforce the law “which prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within the cemeteries.” In a statement reported on by The New York Times, the Army confirmed NPR’s reporting and noted that “the Trump campaign had been made aware that federal law prohibits filming for political purposes.” 

The U.S. Army said an employee at Arlington National Cemetery who tried to "ensure adherence" to rules that prohibit political activities at the cemetery "was abruptly pushed aside," but that the employee decided not to press charges against the Trump campaign staffers who allegedly pushed her.

The statement Thursday comes in response to NPR's reporting on former President Donald Trump's visit to Arlington and an altercation his staff had with a cemetery employee.

By  TARA COPP, ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and HANNAH SCHOENBAUMUpdated 6:17 PM MST, August 28, 2024Share

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign was warned about not taking photographs before an altercation at Arlington National Cemetery during a wreath-laying ceremony earlier this week to honor service members killed in the Afghanistan War withdrawal, a defense official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.