Nick Letendre was working at Music and Arts in his hometown Woodbridge, Va. when his dad called him.
     “He sounded really distressed and told me that I had to come home because my brother was killed in Iraq,” Letendre, an Old Dominion University sophomore, said. “I dropped what I was doing and drove home.”
     May 3 will be the two-year anniversary of his older brother Brian Letendre’s death. Brian was an Infantry Officer in the Marine Corps. Letendre said Brian was a “hardcore badass” with a very stern personality and great leadership skills.
     Brian had previously served a term in Iraq but volunteered to go again. Brian felt that going back was the right thing to do, Letendre said. His brother is buried in the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.
     During the funeral, Letendre played “Taps” on the trumpet in remembrance of his brother and plans on playing it again this year on May 3.
     “I did it for his one year, and I thought it was going to be hard, but I made it through,” Letendre said.
     To deal with the loss of his brother, Letendre turned to music. His band is called In Remembrance…, in honor of his brother.
     Letendre performs original material and covers a mix of rock and country songs.
     “[The band] has been an outlet; I’m not a very emotional guy,” Letendre said. “A lot of my music is very patriotic; I always try to say something about my brother and the troops. A lot of artists aren’t reaching out and saying ‘thank you’ to the troops.”
     A music education major, Letendre started playing guitar at 15 but didn’t get serious about it until his freshman year at ODU.
     “I play guitar every chance I get, I don’t watch TV, I don’t play video games,” he said. Laughing he added, “It consumes my life.”
     Letendre has played at University Pizza and Tanner’s Creek in Norfolk, Shucker’s in Portsmouth and has played three performances for wounded troops in Northern Virginia.
     He would like to play a show at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
     He is searching for a lead guitarist, drummer and bassist for his band.
     “If I know I have a show coming up, I practice two hours a day. My roommate gets a little annoyed, but it’s OK,” Letendre said. “My neighbors are extremely supportive; they’ve actually come to some shows.”
     His favorite song to cover is Toby Keith’s “Angry American,” which he said usually gets the crowd hyped and ends with a standing ovation.
     His favorite original song is called “Red Ink” and is about a “nasty” breakup.
     When asked if he has written any songs about his brother, Letendre said, “I cannot write a song about my brother. I can’t seem to write one that I think is good enough. I’ll have an idea and write it down but I won’t think its strong enough.”
     Letendre and his brother had a nine-year age difference. As a kid, he always saw Brian as Superman and thought nothing could happen to him.
     “We were close in the sense that he was my big brother, I always asked him for advice,” Letendre said. “He went to Milligan College in Tennessee with a soccer scholarship when I was in sixth grade, but every time he’d come home I’d bug the hell out of him.”

     Aside from playing music, Letendre said that all the publicity that derived from Brian’s death helped ease the mourning process. Brian’s death was publicized in his hometown and in Connecticut where he was stationed.
     “It was great in a way because it gave us a distraction. We wanted obviously to get the word out about what he did, what he sacrificed,” Letendre said. “My parents talk to everybody they can about it.”
     At the Arlington National Cemetery, not everyone appreciated what men like Brian Letendre sacrificed.
The controversial Westboro Baptist Church protested at the cemetery where Brian is buried on Memorial Day, arguing that the soldiers deserved to die.
     For that reason, Letendre said, Patriot Guard Riders were at the cemetery, revving their motorcycle engines so that the protestors couldn’t be heard.
     “I’m very pro-war. You can be against the war as long as you support the troops,” Letendre said.
     Across from the protestors, there was a group of people showing support for the troops. Letendre saw a man, whom he’d never met, holding a sign with his brother’s picture on it that read, “My Hero.”
     Letendre’s father was in the Air Force and both Brian and Letendre’s middle brother, Justin, joined the Marines. Letendre said he would also like to join and conduct the Marine band The President’s Own one day.
If he doesn’t join the Marines, he would like to be an elementary school music teacher.
     Letendre has substituted and said the kids loved him.
     “The hardest thing I’ve ever done was teach a first grade class; they never listen,” he said.
     As far as his band goes, Letendre continues to play “pro-war” music to support the troops and honor his older brother.
     “It’s a project, and it’s what I enjoy doing. I’d love to get big but I wouldn’t get heartbroken if it didn’t happen,” Letendre said. “I’m not putting all my eggs into the ‘let’s get famous’ basket.”
 
vvennard@maceandcrown.com