Name: Army Pfc. Shane W. Cantu Age: 20 From: Corunna, MI Assigned to 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, Italy Incident: Army Pfc. Shane W. Cantu died Aug. 28 in Charkh, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he was hit by shrapnel.
Remains of Corunna soldier return from Afghanistan
The Associated Press
CORUNNA, Mich. &mdash The remains of a 20-year-old Michigan soldier killed in Afghanistan are back on American soil, where friends and teachers remembered him Thursday as an upbeat team player with a smile that &ldquolit up the room.&rdquo
The body of Army Pfc. Shane Cantu of Corunna arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Thursday morning, with a military honor guard on hand to carry the flag-draped coffin.
The Corunna High School graduate died Tuesday after insurgents threw an explosive over a base wall, Cantu&rsquos former football coach, Mark Sullivan, told Mlive.com. Cantu was a three-year starter at the mid-Michigan high school.
&ldquoHe&rsquos the hardest working kid I&rsquove ever coached,&rdquo Sullivan told The Argus-Press of Owosso. &ldquoHe was a winner &mdash in more ways than just winning or losing a game. ... He gave everything his all, and everybody wanted to follow him. That&rsquos just who he was. He had a heart of gold, and his smile lit up the room.&rdquo
Cantu had been stationed in Germany and Italy before transferring to Afghanistan a month before he was killed, said Jake Lumsden, a 2009 Corunna High School graduate.
Lumsden said he and Cantu became close friends in high school, playing football and basketball together.
&ldquoI was just shocked. I couldn&rsquot believe it at first,&rdquo Lumsden said. &ldquoI just sat there a while and thought of all the good times we had together. I&rsquom sorely going to miss him.&rdquo
Lumsden said Cantu told him he joined the military because &ldquohe loved being part of a team. He tried playing football in college but that didn&rsquot work out so he joined the Army. That&rsquos what he really wanted to do.&rdquo
Survivors include his mother, Jennifer Clarke, stepfather Mike Clarke, twin sister, Shanel, and sisters Shiann, Jordyn and Breann.
Army Spc. Ryan Friedrichs, a friend of Cantu&rsquos, is married to ex-Michigan secretary of state candidate Jocelyn Benson. Benson said her husband informed her of Cantu&rsquos death from Afghanistan.
Cantu and Friedrichs went through airborne training and deployed together, Benson said.
Cantu&rsquos death was &ldquoa heartbreaking, devastating loss,&rdquo she told The Associated Press.
Funeral set for soldier killed in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
CORUNNA, Mich. &mdash A funeral is planned at Corunna High School for a 20-year-old graduate who was killed while serving in Afghanistan.
The body of Army Pfc. Shane Cantu of Corunna arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware last week, with a military honor guard on hand to carry the flag-draped coffin.
Visitation is 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Nelson-House Funeral Home in Owosso. The service is 5 p.m. Monday at the school's Nick Annese Field.
Details of the funeral service were reported Wednesday by The Flint Journal.
Cantu's ex-football coach has said he died Aug. 28 after insurgents threw an explosive over a base wall.
Cantu had been stationed in Germany and Italy before transferring to Afghanistan a month before he was killed.
US flags ordered at half-staff for fallen soldier
The Associated Press
CORUNNA, Mich. &mdash U.S. flags within the state Capitol Complex in Lansing and at state buildings, grounds and facilities throughout Michigan will be lowered Monday to half-staff in honor of Army Pfc. Shane Cantu.
The order was given by Gov. Rick Snyder, who said in a statement that Cantu "will forever be remembered as a hero by the community of Corunna and the entire Great Lakes State."
Cantu, 20, of Corunna, died Aug. 28 of shrapnel wounds after insurgents threw an explosive over a base wall in Afghanistan, where he was stationed.
He was a member of the Army 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. He had been stationed in Germany and Italy before transferring to Afghanistan a month before he was killed.
A 3-year starter on the Corunna High School football team, Cantu graduated in 2010 and attended Adrian College before joining the Army.
Visitation has been scheduled for 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Nelson-House Funeral Home in Owosso. Cantu's funeral will be held at 5 p.m. Monday at Corunna High School.
Michigan residents, businesses, schools, local governments and other organizations also are encouraged to display the flag at half-staff beginning Monday. Flags will be returned to full-staff Wednesday.
Died: August 28, 2012