Farewell to Walter Reed Army Medical Center

The Army cases its colors and begins the closure process
of Walter Reed Hospital:

"Except for the camera shutters clacking, you could have heard a surgical pin drop as the Army furled its seven unit colors and encased them in cloth bags at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Wednesday.

"The brass had spoken, and even Army Secretary John McHugh called it “a bittersweet moment, tinged in melancholy,” as the Army began its ceremonial closure of the venerable campus on Georgia Avenue on the 237th birthday of the Army Medical Corps.

"Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 102 years old and showing its age, is closing and being merged with the expansive National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. The Bethesda facility will be renamed Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and will be run as a joint Army-Navy command."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...eed/2011/07/27/gIQACP6odI_story.html?hpid=z13

http://www.army.mil/article/62517/McHugh__Walter_Reed_s_legacy_will_endure/

http://www.army.mil/walterreedmove/

 

All things come to an end sooner or later. After 102 years, I think it is safe to say that it was time to retire. I think it was a nice touch to attach the name to the Bethesda facility. Tradition is important, especially in the military.

 

Living in Washington DC and going to Walter Reed Army Medical Center for treatment was an adventure to get too, it usually took an hour or two in driving from Fort Myer, VA (next to Arlington National Cemetery). The more modern Bethesda and the new Fort Belvoir are going to be quicker to get to and a better facility. Look forward to going to both.

 

Another era passes.

 

Can't say I've ever looked forward to going to the hospital ...

 

True Iwd, but have you ever been in traffic for two hours to go to a hospital.