Bin Laden’s death stirs memories of lives cut short

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, just hours after the second of the World Trade Center’s twin towers disappeared from the New York skyline, Canton Veterans Agent Tony Andreotti grabbed an American flag and headed to the corner of Sherman and Washington streets. There he stood over the next few days, waving that flag as if to say, “We’re still here. We got through it and we must not lose hope.”

It was a feeling that Andreotti will never forget, and it is why on Monday, after learning that Osama bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, had been killed in a firefight with U.S. forces, he returned to that same corner – this time to proudly announce that “justice has been served.”

“It was incredible,” said Andreotti after an emotional day of flag waving. “It was a great experience.”

Indeed, news of bin Laden’s demise was celebrated throughout Canton and across the globe this week. Yet it also proved bittersweet as Americans reflected on all that was lost on that fateful September morning.

Michael Uliano

For Andreotti, and no doubt for many other residents of Canton, this week has been a time to remember the fallen — people like Michael Uliano, the beloved former quarterback with a heart of gold who perished in the World Trade Center along with his best friend and co-worker Vinny Abate. Uliano, an employee of Cantor Fitzgerald, was on the 105^th floor when the tower collapsed. A 1978 graduate of Canton High, he was just 42 when he died, leaving behind his wife, mother, eight siblings and a large extended family, as well as countless friends and admirers.

It has also been a time to remember 19-year-old Lance Corporal Shayne Cabino, a 2004 graduate of CHS who was killed, along with three other Marines, by a roadside bomb while conducting a mission outside of Baghdad on October 6, 2005. Described by his mother as a “social butterfly,” Shayne’s death rocked the Canton community and devastated his close-knit family, including his two younger siblings, Melissa and Bobby.

Shayne Cabino

“In my mind, both of those young men (Uliano and Cabino) will always be tied together,” said Andreotti. “One died at the hands of bin Laden, and the other died in Iraq because of what bin Laden did.”

And then there are those who are still in harm’s way — active duty soldiers like Army Specialist Eric Estabrook, a Canton native currently serving in Afghanistan who spends his days patrolling for explosives or clashing with Taliban insurgents.

The way Andreotti sees it, the death of bin Laden is a promising sign that the war could be coming to an end. A vocal critic of the Iraq invasion, he believes it is now time that “we get the troops out of there and bring the boys home.”

Sadly, because of bin Laden, there are already far too many who will never have that chance.

“I don’t really think that there’s any closure,” said Andreotti. “There’s never any closure, but I do think we had to get him and I am glad that we killed him.”

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Posted by Jay Turner on May 5 2011. Filed under News. Both comments and pings are currently closed.