He Set Something Up in His Yard to Honor the Brother He Lost in Korea. Now He's Fighting the Homeowner's Association for the Right to Keep It There.

More than 50 years ago, he fought in a war halfway around the globe.

Now he's fighting a battle at home — over a flagpole.

Korean War veteran Robert Willits is in a dispute with the local homeowners association in Greenfield, Indiana, over the flagpole he set up in his yard this summer, WTHR-TV reported.

One flag on the pole, the U.S. flag, honors the country he fought for and the other, the black POW/MIA flag, honors the brother he fought alongside.

Image source: WTHR-TV

While Willits was injured in Korea, his brother, Lester, never came home.

The homeowners association says the flagpole is a violation of neighborhood rules, but Willits isn't backing down.

"Lester is still there," Willits told WTHR. "So I'm going to keep it up."

Robert and Judy Willits (Image source: WTHR-TV)

The homeowners' association has made Willits an offer: fly the POW/MIA flag on the neighborhood flagpole and take down the pole in his yard, or pay a $500 fine.

"With the penalties they've imposed on us, I feel it's really un-American for somebody that is 100 percent disabled vet," said Judy Willits, Robert's wife.

The couple has vowed neither to pay the fine nor remove the flagpole.

Indiana veterans gathered on Monday afternoon to support Willits and his flagpole, WTHR reported.

Image source: WTHR-TV

Where the dispute goes remains to be seen, but the homeowners' association told WTHR that rules are rules — though the group isn't sure what to do if Willits continues to defy their requests.

Both sides in the case have hired lawyers, WTHR noted.

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