For 270 straight Sundays, Robert Rosebrock has held vigils and protests at the corner of San Vicente and Wilshire boulevards in West Los Angeles, advocating for additional shelter to house the city’s homeless veterans.

Members of the Old Veterans Guard have protested and held vigils ­­­in front of the West Los Angeles VA every Sunday for five years. (photo courtesy of Robert Rosebrock)

In the process, he said he’s been arrested six times, chiefly for refusing to remove an upside-down American flag — a symbol of distress, not disrespect — from the fence at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

It is the VA site that Rosebrock and his supporters, coined the Old Veterans Guard, believe could be used to provide a home for the thousands of homeless veterans that sleep on the street every night in Los Angeles.

“There shouldn’t be such a thing as a homeless veteran,” Rosebrock said.

As Americans celebrate Memorial Day on Monday, he hopes that citizens will honor the dead by taking care of the living. An estimated 6,300 homeless veterans live in Los Angeles, and Rosebrock said veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to return to the U.S. in need of “a lot of help and care.”

“It’s always been the American tradition to leave things better than you found it,” he said.

Rosebrock has targeted the VA site as one potential solution to the problems that homeless veterans are facing, as the facility sits on property that was originally deeded to house permanently disabled veterans more than 100 years ago, he said.

However, Rosebrock said some of the land surrounding the VA property has been leased to other entities, and some structures on the property are “empty and rat-infested.”

After getting the charges dropped against Rosebrock for displaying the American flag upside-down, the ACLU opted to take the Brentwood resident’s effort to court by suing the VA. That case is ongoing.

Conressman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said the U.S. Department of Justice is defending the VA, and the two sides are in negotiations to reach a compromise.

“And I’m hopeful that will happen,” he said.

Waxman said he has been involved in the issue “for a long time,” and agrees that the buildings are underutilized. He referenced the recent groundbreaking at Building 209, a 65-bed structure for long-term therapeutic housing for homeless veterans. VA Secretary Dr. Randy Petzel in 2007 designated three buildings — 205, 208 and 209 — to be renovated for therapeutic housing. Building 209, the first to be renovated, broke ground in January.

“I don’t think that we’re acting fast enough,” Waxman said. “I’ve been very frustrated.”

He said officials are also looking to re-purpose a nursing home on the property, possibly for homeless women veterans. Waxman said the government has issued vouchers for homeless veterans to access apartments.

“It’s a huge challenge … [but] I think there’s no better place to make that happen than Los Angeles,” he added.

Waxman said a public/private partnership has been proposed for the VA, as the entity does not “have enough money to do what it should be doing.” He also mentioned the delays veterans are encountering in receiving their benefits.

“All of this is inexcusable when you think about the sacrifices veterans have made serving our country,” Waxman said.

Rosebrock, who said he was drafted in 1965 but was not involved in combat, feels similarly, which is why his protests will continue in West L.A. He said service members should receive the same “top quality service” after they are discharged as when they are on active duty.

“Because [I did not serve in combat], I feel like I have an enormous respect for those that do, and a strong allegiance and loyalty to serve them as they served us,” Rosebrock said. “The war never ends for them. They carry it forth in their life. What they engaged in physically, goes on mentally.”

He understands that the issue is complex, but feels that assisting homeless veterans should be top priority.

“It’s a complicated issue, it seems like,” Rosebrock said. “But we really believe if we can bring back all this land … and turn it back into a home where they can all feel comfortable along with their fellow veterans, we feel that would do far more than any of these issues. …We know the appreciation and respect is there, but it boils down to the politicians and bureaucrats. …It doesn’t take much to say thanks … and provide better services.”