VA Reclaims L.A. Facility to Help Veterans Years after Judicial Watch Army Vet Case Exposed Issue

Nearly a decade after an elderly Army veteran was federally prosecuted for displaying the American Flag at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs (VA) to protest its failure to make full use of the vast property to benefit those who served, the facility is finally being reclaimed for its rightful purpose. Judicial Watch represented the veteran, Robert Rosebrock, back in 2017 and helped bring much-needed attention to the problem at the sprawling southern California parcel deeded to the federal government over a century ago for the specific purpose of caring for disabled military veterans. A California federal court eventually ruled that Rosebrock was not guilty of violating federal law for displaying two four-by-six-inch American Flags above the fence of the West L.A. VA but little changed to help veterans in need, especially the thousands living on the streets surrounding its lush grounds.

Instead, the 338-acre West L.A. property, dedicated to the federal government in 1888 to serve disabled vets, has long been used for unrelated causes. Among them is a stadium for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) baseball team, an athletic complex for a nearby private high school, laundry facilities for a local hotel, storage and maintenance of production sets for 20th Century Fox Television, the Brentwood Theatre, soccer practice and match fields for a private girls’ soccer club, a dog park and a farmer’s market. For years Rosebrock and a group of fellow veterans assembled at the “Great Lawn Gate” that marks the entrance to the Los Angeles National Veterans Park to demand that the VA make full use of the property to benefit vets, particularly those who are homeless. The elderly vets were a thorn in the government’s side and federal authorities retaliated against them for exposing the fraudulent use of the grounds, including a scam involving a VA official who took bribes from a vender that defrauded the agency out of millions. VA police harassed and intimidated Rosebrock and his troop—fondly known as Old Veterans Guard—at their weekly rallies and Rosebrock got criminally charged for posting a pair of four-by-six-inch American Flags on the outside fence on Memorial Day in 2016. It is worth noting that Rosebrock’s absurd criminal charges were filed during the Obama administration, but the first Trump administration moved forward with the prosecution.

Even after the elderly Army vet’s federal case got resolved, the VA continued to use the L.A. VA grounds for causes unrelated to veterans. The agency threw a few crumbs during the COVID-19 pandemic by offering a fraction of homeless vets temporary housing. Several small tents were erected in the parking lot of the VA healthcare system campus to accommodate a couple dozen vets who were sleeping on the sidewalk immediately adjacent to the grounds. It was a tiny gesture that barely put a dent in the crisis and Rosebrock called it a Band-Aid considering at the time there were around 4,000 homeless veterans in the city of L.A. Judicial Watch published somber photos of decaying tarps, tents, umbrellas and an assortment of ragged items, including large piles of belongings in white plastic trash bags, suitcases, lawn chairs, bicycles and wheelchairs, covering the swale adjacent to the VA fence on Veterans Parkway. The area surrounding the VA fence perimeter depicted impoverished shanty towns in the middle of some of the city’s most upscale communities. While droves of veterans suffered right outside the VA, its resources sadly benefited others.

To right the wrong President Trump issued an executive order in May to provide veterans with better care by, among other things, establishing a National Center for Warrior Independence at the West L.A. VA to supply care, benefits and services. “Previous administrations have failed veterans by allowing the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center—hundreds of acres in Los Angeles given to the Federal Government more than a century ago to help veterans—to fall apart,” the president’s order states, adding that parts of the property are leased to a private school, private companies, and the UCLA baseball team—sometimes at rock-bottom prices. “Los Angeles has approximately 3,000 homeless veterans—more than any other city in the country and accounting for about 10% of all homeless veterans in America,” according to the executive order. “Many of these heroes live in squalor in Los Angeles’s infamous skid row.” Finally, this month the VA announced that it is terminating “illegal and wasteful West Los Angeles” leases and licenses to clear the path for the construction of a center that will provide housing and support for up to 6,000 homeless veterans by 2028. The terminations will enable the VA to reclaim the property for its rightful purpose, the announcement confirms.

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