Farewell to Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) is 100 years old. The center is named after Major Walter Reed (1851-1902), an army physician who led the team which confirmed that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes rather than direct contact. In 2011, Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) is due to close. While sitting in my 7th floor office looking toward downtown D.C., I and my co-workers were surprised to learn the campus was due to close. Staff was told Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) was not on the list of closures. The hospital, Heaton Pavilion, Bldg. 2, itself stands 125 feet, as tall as a 10-story building. The upper floors have a great view of D.C. and Maryland. The distance around the top three floors stretches the length of six football fields. 9/11 we could see the Pentagon burning from the upper floors of Building 2. There were the occasional snipers on roof tops when the President visited. Snipers seemed to be present more often.

As part of a Base Realignment and Closure announcement on May 13, 2005, the Department of Defense proposed replacing Walter Reed Army Medical Center with a new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. This was news because Walter Reed was not on the list of base closures. The preliminary 2005 Base Realignment and Closure list was released by the United States Department of Defense on May 13, 2005. The new center would be on the grounds of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, moving Walter Reed from its current location in Washington, D.C. The proposal is part of a program to transform medical facilities into joint facilities, with staff including Army, Navy, and Air Force medical personnel. The buzzword was going purple, which meant combing the medical personnel. This started in 2003 with the increase sharing of personnel between facilities, and moving health care services. The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) is to be a tri-service military medical center located on the Bethesda, Maryland campus of the present National Naval Medical Center by September 2011. The National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, also known as the Bethesda Naval Hospital, is considered the flagship of the United States Navy's system of medical centers. Walter Reed Army Medical Center is considered the flagship of the United States Army's system of medical centers.

Congressional legislation authorized construction of the Walter Reed General Hospital, and on May 1, 1909, and the first patient was admitted. According to the December 2008 press release, the original hospital, with an 80-bed capacity, had a basement level and three floors. It was equipped with technological advances such as hot water heating, electric lighting and indoor plumbing with sewer connections. During the next two decades that followed, several wings were added to accommodate a growing patient population after the outbreak of World War I Building 1 (known as the "Old Hospital" by staff) served as the primary hospital until the completion of Heaton Pavilion, Bldg. 2, in 1977. Heaton Pavilion is the building seen most often in recent photos. Today, the "Old Hospital" is an administrative building and houses the headquarters for the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and U.S. Army Garrison at Walter Reed. Since its origins, what is now the WRAMC medical care facility has grown from a bed capacity of 80 patients to approximately 5,500 rooms covering more than 113 acres.

My first office at WRAMC was in the Old Hospital building. The window overlooked large fountain, circular driveway and the Rose Garden. In the spring employees eat lunch outside enjoying the blooms. Prior to 9/11 the campus was open to all visitors. On many days you could find brides having their pictures taken among the roses. I had great memories of walking the post on nice days. The Rose Garden and flowering trees gave the place a park like atmosphere. Only the military in uniform reminded one it was a military base. That was before 9/11 and the post being closed. After that date there were armed personnel at the entrance gates. Many other gates were locked with chains restricting entrance points. The Old Hospital houses the President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Suite on the third floor, where the President died.

Heaton Pavilion honors the late Lt. Gen. Leonard Heaton, a former commander of Walter Reed from 1953 to 1959, who served as the Army surgeon general from 1959 to 1969. Heaton Pavilion (New Hospital, building 2) was dedicated by Walter Reed's granddaughter and President Dwight D. Eisenhower's widow, Mamie Eisenhower on September 26, 1977. This is hospital General Colin Powell came for his annual checkup. You might see Mrs. Barbara Bush getting her eye examination. Many foreign diplomats and congress persons were treated on the VIP ward.

On Aug. 2, 2007 the historical Building 38 was renamed "Vaccaro Hall." Cpl. Angelo J. Vaccaro,born in the Bronx, N.Y.,an Army medic killed in Afghanistan. The hall serves as the headquarters for the new Warrior Transition Brigade. Cpl. Vaccaro, who died Oct. 3 while attempting to evacuate casualties during combat in Afghanistan, is the first service member to earn two Silver Star Medals in the global terror war. A plaque adjacent to Vaccaro Hall's front door bears an embossed picture of the Soldier's face and describes his final courageous moments.

According to The Strip, the post paper, 2007 was the 76th anniversary of historic Memorial Chapel at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The Memorial Chapel sits on the far northwest side of WRAMC's main campus, across from The National Museum of Health and Medicine. It rises in grandeur with a majestic appearance that brings to mind the ancient architecture one might imagine existed during the times of Camelot and King Arthur, according to the paper. The Memorial Chapel is designed after English-type church architecture and built of gray rubble stone. The chapel contains 34 pews and seats approximately 200 people. Over the years the chapel has been host to a number of weddings, baptisms, funerals and a variety of other religious services and activities. Groundbreaking for the chapel occurred at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year after the Armistice (Nov. 11, 1929). The chapel's cornerstone was laid May 28, 1930.

Delano Hall, building 11, built during 1929 to 1933, was designed according to the more academically correct interpretation of the Colonial and Georgian Revival styles of the period. It was constructed in three major sections with Flemish bond brick, limestone porticos, and trim with six over six windows, and a lantern roof.

The main campus host what is known as tenant activities:

1.

The North Atlantic Regional Medical Command

2.

The North Atlantic Regional Dental Command

3.

The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology

4.

The DOD Deployment Health Clinical Center

5.

The National Museum of Health and Medicine is famous for housing a number of American Civil War artifacts. The most famous item is the preserved leg of Union General Daniel Sickles. Sickles lost the leg on July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg when a Confederate shell exploded in the Sickles's field headquarters.

ìTrauma Bay II, Balad, Iraqî, a new exhibit at National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM) on the campus of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, shows how combat medics, doctors and nurses of the Air Force, Army and Coalition Forces worked together to save the lives of wounded service members in Iraq.

6.

The Borden Institute-Named for Major William Borden. WRAMC was Borden's Dream

7.

The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), formerly in historical Building 40. This medical research institute moved to WRAMC's Forest Glen, Maryland annex in 1999.

The link to the Walter Reed Base Guide gives the full story of today WRAMC, everything you wanted to know: http://www.dcmilitary.com/special_sections/sw/110508WR/Walter_Reed_110508.pdf

The new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) will be nice, shining with new technology. There'll be a new group of staff that'll never know the pleasure of the old campus. Located in a prime location in northwest Washington, D.C., close enough to the Maryland border, people walked during good weather. There were always bike riders. The location would be a dream to a developer. There's enough space to build a small town. And what of the spot where a sniper almost shot President Lincoln? May be they'll leave the marker.

Resources:

History Office: Walter Reed Army Medical Center

6900 Georgia Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

Phone: 202-782-3329

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/walter-reed/index.html

http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/NewsAndEvents/media/Lists/wrnews/DispForm.aspx?ID=77&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewramc%2Eamedd%2Earmy%2Emil%2FNewsAndEvents%2Fmedia%2FPages%2Fpress%2Easpx

http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/Pages/default.aspx