70-Year-Old War Vet Fatally Struck By Suspected DUI Driver

YORBA LINDA (CBSLA.com) — A man who survived two tours in the Vietnam War was killed over the weekend by a suspected drunken driver, authorities said.

Well-known in Yorba Linda, Greg Gillaspy, who was involved in city politics and advocated for veterans, was hit and killed while on a walk near his home.

One of the many things he did in his hometown was having the words "In God We Trust" put in the city council chambers.

He also encouraged the people of Yorba Linda to wear red shirts on Friday to honor veterans and the military.

"It started in 1946 to welcome home World War II vets and it's sort of come and gone, come and gone," said Betty Gillaspy, his wife of 58 years. "He didn't think that was good enough so we now have 13 cities in Orange County who give proclamations for it, we have two in Arizona and one in Texas that's coming up."

She described her husband as a "renaissance man."

At the time of Gillaspy's death, he was the president of the Santa Ana Vietnam Veterans chapter.

Gillaspy said her deeply religious husband would want to help the one responsible, not hurt him.

"I know that if my husband had survived that accident, he would have been the one to go to that person and he would have been the one to see how he could help him," she said.