Osama bin Laden’s Death Provides a Sense of Closure

James Tumminia’s close friend Joe Allen died on 9/11, and after hearing that Osama bin Laden had been killed, the Mar Vista resident was trying to digest the news. He told Patch that his initial reaction was “shock and awe.”

Pun aside, Tumminia, said, “I certainly wasn’t expecting to hear this. However, I never lost faith that both the Bush administration and the current administration had [catching] Osama bin Laden as their No. 1 priority when it came to getting the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

“Sadly, it took almost 10 years, but justice has been served. [Bin Laden] is gone. He’s gone.”

Sunday night was also a time for Tumminia to pause and remember his friend. Ironically, just last week Tumminia made the final reservation arrangements to hold a mass in Allen’s honor at St. Monica’s Church in Santa Monica on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

“Joe and I met here in Los Angeles,” Tumminia recalled. “We were both originally from New York and we were both actors here in Los Angeles, but in the late '90s he decided he wanted to move back home, leave acting and settle into a stable job.”

Allen found that job at financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald. On Sept. 11, 2001, the 39-year-old was at work when the planes struck the towers. He called his family from his desk and told them the building had been hit but that he was fine and he was going to get out safely. He never made it.

“He was such a dynamic, spirited guy,” Tumminia recalled. “He loved to dance. He loved a good story and he loved his friends. He was the go-to guy to hang out with or talk to if you needed to chat.”

Tumminia said whenever he went back to New York, he and Allen would regularly meet up “and rip it up in the city that never sleeps.”

Tumminia believes Allen would be very happy to hear that bin Laden has been killed. “He was very pro-America and without a doubt he would be happy that justice has been served and I know he’d also be very proud of the [military] men and women who were behind this, who were responsible for Osama’s demise.”

While there has been dancing in the streets in Washington, D.C., and New York, here in Mar Vista the streets have been quiet. “I would love to know what the feeling is in New York and Washington, D.C.,” Tumminia said. “I’m not offended by the dancing and crowds. It’s an honest reaction to something that’s been in the works for a long time and 9/11 directly affected the lives of thousands of people.”

Despite the jubilation, Tumminia added, “It’s obviously a symbolic victory. Sadly, terrorism lives on. We have to get up in the morning and know that it’s still there and that we have to continue to fight it. There’s still a lot more work to be done.”

For now, though, Tumminia—like so many others—is just grateful that bin Laden’s death can provide “a little bit of closure, which is a good feeling. I think there was a sense on the sixth, seventh and eighth anniversary of 9/11 that it was starting to get old, there was a disconnect. [Tonight’s reaction] shows that this is still an issue that affects all of us and it’s a tribute to our military and our government that [the victims] haven’t been forgotten.”