As the War on Terror continues in the Middle East, CBS47 reflects on how it had impacted the Valley. Nearly a dozen soldiers from Clovis have been killed in the war, and BuchananHigh School has been the hardest hit school in the entire country. Today there are memorials all around town and folks say they wish this war would finally end.
Violence continues in Baghdad on Tuesday. At least 65 people are killed in a wave of bombings. March 20th, 2013, marks the ten year anniversary of the U.S. troop invasion. America withdrew from Iraq last year, but the War on Terror continues.
“I think everybody wishes it was over,” said John Gennuso, a Marine veteran.
Gennuso, 26, is a BuchananHigh School graduate. He enlisted not long after Jeremiah Baro and Jared Hubbard were killed. Gennuso said many of his classmates felt a sense of duty.
“Awesome to see my peers and my friends feeling the same way that I did and wanting to fight for their freedom and stand up for themselves and do their part,” said Gennuso.
Since 2004, more than a half dozen Buchanan grads were killed in action. Military flags fly outside Veterans Memorial Stadium on Buchanan's campus. Memorials all over Clovis honor about a dozen young lives sacrificed for our freedom. Marty Petuck lost a grandson. In May it will have been six years ago.
“[He] always had a smile, helped the guys keep a positive outlook, and had more buddies than anyone could imagine,” said Petuck, a Fresno resident.
While she supports the war, she thinks it's gone on way too long. No one can predict when the violence will end, but Gennuso says he's glad he lives in a place where people care.
“Clovis got his hard by it and I take a sense of pride in being one of the few people in this community who wanted to be a part of it,” said Gennuso.
Since the war began, more than 4,400 U.S. troops have been killed.