Photos: Grand opening of the Guy Gabaldon Apartments

Gabriel Vigil, 56, served in the Army in the early 1980s. Colon cancer forced him into the hospital last year; there he was put in touch with the veterans’ aid group that led him to the Guy Gabaldon Apartments.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Jamal Haqq, left, a Vietnam veteran and resident at the Guy Gabaldon Apartments, greets David Fuentes, 89, a World War II veteran, and Joe Lopez, 70, a Vietnam War veteran, during the celebration of the apartment building’s opening.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Willie Flanagan, 73, left, a Vietnam veteran, greets former U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis during the Guy Gabaldon Apartments’ grand opening celebration.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Jamal Haqq, a former Marine, became unemployed during the recession. On Monday, he moved into the Guy Gabaldon Apartments in Boyle Heights, an affordable housing complex for homeless veterans. “People ask me how I feel, and you know what I tell them?” he said. “Resurrected.”  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Leo Elliott, a Vietnam veteran and resident at the Guy Gabaldon Apartments, listens from above to members of the Air National Guard Band of the West Coast.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Jamal Haqq, left, a resident at the Guy Gabaldon Apartments, receives a hug from Nancy Meza, a marketing and communications associate with the East Los Angeles Community Corp.   (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)