No Yellow Ribbons in This War : A Gulf veteran’s death by gang violence adds to the already tragic statistics

Va Lee survived two wars, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. But at 22, he was killed in a third war: The gang war fought every day on the streets of San Diego, Los Angeles and scores of other cities.

It is a war that has claimed more San Diegans’ lives than the Persian Gulf War.

Casualties were amazingly few among the 50,000 or so troops from San Diego County bases in the Gulf, while 12 people were killed last year in gang-related incidents in the city of San Diego. Fifteen were killed in the city in 1989.

By all accounts, Va Lee was not a combatant in this war. He was one of many innocent casualties--the men, women and children who have no gang affiliation but are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Lee and his family knew war all too well. He was a child in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War; his father fought in the CIA’s secret army against communist forces in Laos. He was a Marine Corps assault gunner in Kuwait.

But a recent birthday party in City Heights, however, proved fatal for the Linda Vista man.

Lee was a quiet, family man who colleagues said “would do anything for you.” It was this trait that got him killed, apparently, just a week before he was to be discharged from the service.

The party was about over and he was rounding up his brothers to leave when a group of apparent gang members opened fire across the street from the party. Lee hit the ground, witnesses said, then looked up to see if his brothers were all right. That’s when a bullet hit him. A teen-ager was also wounded in the gunfire.

Police think the shooting resulted from a territorial dispute.

Many wars do, including the one in the Persian Gulf.

But there are no yellow ribbons or parades in this war. The gang wars being fought on city streets are more reminiscent of the undeclared guerrilla war in Vietnam that went on for years, with no end in sight and no clear way to win.