Recovery of Falklands war helmets helps heal wounds

Jorge Altieri runs his hands over old blood stains on a helmet that saved his life in 1982 when Argentina and Britain went to war over the Falkland Islands.

Looking at the treasured object is still a novelty: The helmet was recently returned to Altieri decades after he lost it on the battlefield where he was almost killed by shrapnel.

"I have it next to me now and I use it like a teddy bear," Altieri said. "I look at it and I get teary-eyed from all the memories."

Argentine war veteran Jorge Altieri poses for a portrait with the blood-stained helmet, recently returned to him, that saved his life in 1982 during the Falklands war, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. "I have it next to me now and I use it like a teddy bear," Altieri said. "I look at it and I get teary-eyed from all the memories." (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)

Argentina lost the war for the South Atlantic archipelago after its troops embarked on an ill-fated invasion nearly 37 years ago, an international humiliation that claimed the lives of 649 Argentines and 255 British soldiers.

Argentina still claims the islands, which it calls the Malvinas. Britain says the Falklands are a self-governing entity under its protection.

After decades of tense relations, though, both countries have experienced a thaw, including a deal that allowed a multinational team of experts to exhume and identify the remains of dozens of Argentine soldiers.

Argentine war veteran Jorge Altieri poses for a portrait with the blood-stained helmet, recently returned to him, that saved his life in 1982 during the Falklands war, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. For Altieri, having his helmet has helped him find similar closure. "All the memories of what I lived in the Malvinas came back to me," he said. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)

Today, veterans and relatives of those who died also say the recovery of objects taken as war trophies has helped heal their scars.

"I can't stop looking at it, thinking of what it did to stop the bomb shrapnel blowing my head off," Altieri said about his helmet, although he still lost an eye and part of his brain in a blast during battle for Mount Longdon on June 12, 1982, two days before fighting stopped.

In a parallel tale of reconciliation, Argentine veteran Diego Carlos Arreseigor announced March 7 that he is planning to return the blood-stained helmet of fallen British soldier Alexander Shaw, who was killed at Mount Longdon at age 25.

Argentine war veteran Jorge Altieri poses for a portrait outside the Malvinas War Museum, where a map of the islands is colored in the colors of Argentina's national flag, in Lanus, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Altieri lost an eye in a blast during the June 12, 1982 battle for Mount Longdon. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)

The helmet is expected to be delivered to Shaw's sister, Susan, in April or May.

"Susan touched me with her spirituality. She was 15 when her brother left for the war," Arreseigor told The Associated Press.

Arreseigor said he had picked up the helmet in a pile of discarded equipment and hid it from a British soldier by keeping it under his jacket.

Diego Carlos Arreseigor poses with a British soldier's helmet that he found on the battlefield in 1982 at the monument that honors Argentine soldiers killed during the Falklands war in Buenos Aires, Argentina Wednesday, March 7, 2018. Arreseigor is planning to return the blood-stained helmet of fallen British soldier Alexander Shaw, who was killed in the battle of Mount Longdon at the age of 25, to Shaw's sister in April or May. (Diego Carlos Arreseigor via AP)

"I kept it these 37 years, always considering it a trophy of war, a sort of consolation for the loss and the pain of so many fallen friends," he said.

Some years ago he became curious about who had worn it and noticed it had a last name written on one of its interior belts.

Arreseigor eventually found out Shaw's identity and learned he had been a victim of Argentine artillery.

This 1982 photo courtesy of Diego Carlos Arreseigor shows him, standing center, with his battalion during the Falklands War where Argentina and Britain battled over the archipelago which Argentina calls Las Malvinas. Arreseigor found and kept the helmet of British soldier Alexander Shaw as a trophy of war. Thirty-seven years later, in 2019, he was able to contact the soldier's sister in order to arrange its return this year. "The story moved me. Knowing that he died just hours before the cease fire ... it's sad like all war stories," he said. (Diego Carlos Arreseigor via AP)

"The story moved me. Knowing that he died just hours before the cease-fire. ... it's sad like all war stories," he said. "I just turned 60 and I demand our sovereignty over Las Malvinas, but I also pay homage to all of those who died — Argentine and British — because I think that's the way to rebuild."

For Altieri, having his helmet has helped him find similar closure.

After the war's cease-fire, Altieri's helmet was taken to London by a British paratrooper who had pulled it from a heap of military equipment. After the man passed away, it was kept by his family until it was put up for auction four years ago.

This 1982 photo courtesy of Diego Carlos Arreseigor, shows his unit of Argentine soldiers planting landmines during The Battle of Mount Longdon, part of the Falklands War where Argentine and British soldiers battled over the archipelago which Argentina calls Las Malvinas. Argentina lost the war for the South Atlantic archipelago after its troops embarked on an ill-fated invasion nearly 37 years ago, an international humiliation that claimed the lives of 649 Argentines and 255 British soldiers. (Diego Carlos Arreseigor via AP)

At the time, Altieri offered about $520 (400 pounds), but a British man who collects war objects paid twice that amount and Altieri failed to persuade him to sell it.

"He'd say: 'Even if the queen comes asking for it, I won't give it away,'" Altieri recalled.

Some days ago, however, the helmet briefly went up for auction again on eBay for about $13,000 (10,500 pounds). When it was taken off the site, Altieri feared he had lost it for good until he heard the news: An anonymous Argentine entrepreneur had bought it for Altieri.

"All the memories of what I lived in the Malvinas came back to me," Altieri said.

He now hopes to display it at home before donating it to a Falklands war museum. "I want people to see it and see what happened to us there."

Associated Press journalists Paul Byrne and Natacha Pisarenko contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is not immune from civil claims that he incited a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol on Jan, 6, 2021, a federal judge has ruled in one of the last unresolved legal cases stemming from the riot.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Tuesday that Trump's remarks at his “Stop the Steal” rally, held on the Ellipse near the White House shortly before the siege began, “plausibly” were inciting words that are not protected by the First Amendment right to free speech.

The Republican president is not shielded from liability for much of his Jan. 6 conduct, including that speech and many of his social media posts that day, according to the judge. But Mehta said Trump cannot be held liable for his official acts that day, including his Rose Garden remarks during the riot and his interactions with Justice Department officials.

“President Trump has not shown that the Speech reasonably can be understood as falling within the outer perimeter of his Presidential duties,” Mehta wrote. “The content of the Ellipse Speech confirms that it is not covered by official-acts immunity."

The decision is not the court's first ruling that Trump can be held liable for the violence at the Capitol and it is unlikely to be the last given the near-certainty of an appeal. But the 79-page ruling sets the stage for a possible civil trial in the same courthouse where Trump was charged with crimes for his Jan. 6 conduct, before his 2024 election ended the prosecution.

Mehta previously refused to dismiss the claims against Trump in a February 2022 ruling that Trump was not entitled to presidential immunity from the claims brought by Democratic members of Congress and law enforcement officers who guarded the Capitol on Jan. 6. In that decision, Mehta also concluded that Trump’s words during his rally speech plausibly amounted to incitement and were not protected by the First Amendment.

The case returned to Mehta after an appeals court ruling upheld his 2022 decision. He said Tuesday's ruling on immunity falls under a more "rigorous" legal standard at this later stage in the litigation.

Mehta, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, said his latest decision is not a “final pronouncement on immunity for any particular act.”

“President Trump remains free to reassert official-acts immunity as a defense at trial. But the burden will remain his and will be subject to a higher standard of proof,” the judge wrote.

Trump spoke to a crowd of his supporters at the rally before the mob’s attack disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory over Trump. Trump closed out his speech by saying, “We fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

Trump’s lawyers argued that Trump's conduct on Jan. 6 meets the threshold for presidential immunity.

The plaintiffs contended that Trump cannot prove he was acting entirely in his official capacity rather than as an office-seeking private individual. They also said the Supreme Court has held that office-seeking conduct falls outside the scope of presidential immunity.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who at that time led the House Homeland Security Committee, sued Trump, Trump's personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani and members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers extremist groups over the Jan. 6 riot. Other Democratic members of Congress later joined the litigation, which was consolidated with the officers' claims.

The civil claims survived Trump’s sweeping act of clemency on the first day of his second term, when he pardoned, commuted prison sentences and ordered the dismissal of all 1,500-plus criminal cases stemming from the Capitol siege. More than 100 police officers were injured while defending the Capitol from rioters.

The plaintiffs' legal team includes attorneys from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Damon Hewitt, the group's president and executive director, praised the ruling as a “monumental victory for the rule of law, affirming that no one, including the president of the United States, is above it.”

“The court rightly recognizes that President Trump’s actions leading to the January 6 insurrection fell outside the scope of presidential duties," Hewitt said in a statement. “This ruling is an important step toward accountability for the violent attack on the Capitol and our democracy.”

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)