GreenVetsLA Replicates Bronze Plaques for Soldiers Home

GreenVetsLA is honored to be a part of a legacy at the West LA VA. These are the first 2 bronze plaques that were funded by the non-profit 1887. These beautiful plaques will be mounted at the gates of the VA rebranding this space as a "National Soldiers Home"!

The West Los Angeles VA grounds recently revamped 2 of their buildings to house homeless/recovering Veterans.  

The buildings were empty for several years and one of the women who helped get the contruction off the ground was Carolina Berrie.

Pictured: Carolina Berrie & Robert A. McDonald at the Grand Opening of the Veterans Housing Facility.

One of our Veterans has a background in prop making and he created a mold based off the original "National Soldiers Home" plaque at the West LA VA grounds.

This was the mold he made that would later be used in the bronzing process.

They coated it with several layers of wax.

They added some tubular paths on the back for the bronze to flow in and fill the mold, then covered it in several layers of plaster.

They poured the bronze into the mold and it got pretty hot in there.

There was a grand opening celebration where we got to meet the secretary of the VA Robert A. McDonald. 

For all her hard work, Carolina was recognized and together her and Robert cut the ribbon to the housing facility.

We took some photos with the plaques followed by a tour of the housing facility.

The plaques themselves will be mounted on the gates very soon. We would like to thank The 1887 Fund for helping make this happen!

If you would like to know more about the history of the housing facility and the people who helped bring it back to life, NPR did an article on it and you can read about it here: http://www.npr.org/2012/09/10/160736598/los-angeles-va-has-made-millions-on-rental-deals