Army Spc. Thai Vue

Died June 18, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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22, of Willows, Calif.; assigned to the 127th Military Police Company, 709th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, V Corps, Hanau, Germany; killed June 18 when a mortar round hit the motor pool where he was working in Baghdad.

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California soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press

WILLOWS, Calif. — Spc. Thai Vue was killed in a mortar attack in Iraq, where he was serving with a military police unit, Defense Department officials said Monday.

Vue, of Willows, Calif., died Friday when a mortar round hit his motor pool. He was assigned to the Army’s 127th Military Police Company, 709th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, based in Hanau, Germany.

Vue was born in the Philippines and moved with his family to California in 1984. Vue was the third of six children born to his father, Chou Vue, and mother, Chia Thao.

“Having lived through a war and all that, having lost family members before, you’re proud in a sense, but at the same time you know there are risks,” his older brother, Thor, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Vue’s enlistment was originally supposed to have ended June 24, according to his family. But the Army extended his tenure and shipped him back to Iraq in April for eight more months.

“We were crying, and I said, ‘Why are you crying?”’ his girlfriend, Nancy Lee, told the Chronicle. “And he said he was afraid that this time, when he left me he wouldn’t be coming back.”