BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 At Historic Union Cemetery, a Bakersfield business owner is working to preserve the legacy of his father and other local veterans.<\/p>\n
George Clerou, whose family founded Clerou Tire Company in East Bakersfield in 1942, said honoring veterans is deeply personal.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll four of these individuals were from Bakersfield,\u201d Clerou said while looking through photographs of his father and his friends in uniform. \u201cAnd they all went to high school together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The photos tell the story of a generation of Bakersfield men who went off to war together during World War II.<\/p>\n
Clerou\u2019s father, Joseph Clerou, was a Bakersfield native who played football at Bakersfield High School and Bakersfield College before earning a scholarship to the University of San Francisco. After graduating, he joined the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said all of a sudden, \u2018Hey Joe, you\u2019re going to Pendleton and you\u2019re a company commander,\u2019\u201d George Clerou said. \u201cAnd here he was, a second lieutenant fresh out of Marine Corps boot camp.\u201d<\/p>\n
As World War II intensified, Joseph Clerou trained soldiers before deploying to Guadalcanal. He later traveled to New Zealand, where he helped train members of the Second Marine Division.<\/p>\n
In November 1943, he was deployed to Tarawa, one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific theater.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was now a captain in a pioneer battalion handling logistics and supplies, and that was a very heated battle,\u201d George Clerou said.<\/p>\n
Joseph Clerou survived several more battles and later served during the Korean War. By then, he was married with two children, including George.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe figured, \u2018I can\u2019t get shot at again,\u2019\u201d George Clerou said. \u201cInstead of being deployed to Korea, he ended up spending the Korean War in Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Clerou said growing up with a military father came with discipline, but also love and respect.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a colonel in the Marine Corps, so you didn\u2019t want to cross him,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was his way or no way, but we all loved him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Clerou continues to honor veterans through both the family business and his role on the board of Historic Union Cemetery.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t understand the sacrifice, or they take that sacrifice for granted,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to forget them. I don\u2019t want to forget any of these headstones. They all have a story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joseph Clerou 1919-2003.<\/p>\n
Historic Union Cemetery will host a Memorial Day celebration Monday at 9 a.m. to honor local veterans.<\/p>\n
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 At Historic Union Cemetery, a Bakersfield business owner is working to preserve the legacy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,155,153,152,162],"class_list":["post-328579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-downtown","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-kern-county-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}