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Major Walter Reed, circa 1875

U.S. news

Walter Reed Army Medical Center

/ 14 PHOTOS
Major Walter Reed, circa 1875

Walter Reed Army Medical Center was named after Maj. Walter Reed (1851–1902), an Army physician who led the team that confirmed that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes rather than direct contact. The photo shows Reed circa 1875. The medical center has served hundreds of thousands, from privates to presidents, since it opened in 1909. It will retire its ceremonial flags on July 27 and move to a new location in Bethesda, Md., and close on Sept. 15.

— AP / Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Walter Reed Army Medical Center is seen in Washington, Thursday, July 21, 2001. Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the military's flagship hospital where privates to presidents have gone for care for more than a century, is closing its doors.(AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

Walter Reed Army Medical Center is seen in Washington, July 21, 2001. The Army's flagship medical center, on 113 acres in Washington, D.C., serves more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military.

— Luis Alvarez / FR596 AP
Bedridden wounded soldiers lying in beds

Wounded soldiers knit in their beds, as nurses stand on hand, in 1918 during World War I.

— Time Life Pictures. / Time & Life Pictures
Sylvia Clemmons, Alice Giles

Sylvia Clemmons, front, and Alice Giles walk through Reed's main lobby On July 21, 2001.

— Luis Alvarez / FR596 AP
Grace Coolidge

First lady Grace Coolidge selects Christmas gifts made by World War I veterans at Walter Reed in December 1926.

— Fpg / Archive Photos
FILE - In this August 1960 file photo provided by Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon is visited at Walter Reed Army Medical Center by Vice Presidential candidate Sen. Lyndon Johnson, Senator John Kennedy's running mate, and Senator Everett Dirksen. Nixon spent two weeks at Walter Reed recovering from a bacterial staph infection. (AP Photo/Walter Reed Army Medical Center, ho)

Presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon is visited by Sen. Lyndon Johnson, also a vice presidential candidate, in August 1960. Nixon spent two weeks at Walter Reed recovering from a bacterial staph infection.

— Walter Reed Army Medical Center
US Army medical staff and patients sit i

Army medical staff and patients sit in the lobby area of the new Warrior Clinic on Feb. 14, 2008. The clinic exclusively serves members of the military wounded in war as their treatment continues.

— Tim Sloan / AFP
Walter Reed Opens Warrior Clinic To Help Wounded Soldiers

A diagnostic room at the Warrior Clinic is seen during a media tour on Feb. 14, 2008. The clinic was created to synchronize all aspects of a wounded soldier’s treatment, including physical, mental and spiritual.

— Chris Kleponis / Getty Images North America
General Motors Donates Vehicles To Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Cpl. Chris Levi an amputee hurt in Iraq, works with his therapist in a Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck at Walter Reed on Nov. 20, 2008. The truck, donated by General Motors, is a simulator to help wounded service members learn to drive again.

— Handout / Getty Images North America
A technician makes some final adjustment

A technician makes some final adjustments to a prosthetic limb in the Prosthetics Lab on Dec. 21, 2006.

— Jim Watson / AFP
Artificial legs are seen at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, Thursday, July 21, 2001. Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the military's flagship hospital where privates to presidents have gone for care for more than a century, is closing its doors. Hundreds of thousands of the nation's war wounded from World War I to today have received treatment at Walter Reed, including 18,000 troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.(AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

Artificial legs are seen at at Walter Reed on July 21, 2001.

— Luis Alvarez / FR596 AP
Walter Reed To Open Training Center For Amputees

Sgt. 1st Class Jacque Keeslar of Great Bear Lake, Calif., who was injured by an IED in Iraq in June 2006, uses a climbing wall at the Military Advanced Training Center at Walter Reed on Sept. 12, 2007. The 31,000-square-foot facility provides medical care and therapy with exercise areas and computer simulation training for amputees.

— Alex Wong / Getty Images North America
TO GO WITH AFP STORY- AFPLIFESTYLE-US-SO

Marine Cpl. Chris Santiago, a double amputee who was injured in the Secarai Valley, Iraq, waits with other amputees in the fitting clinic at Walter Reed on Dec. 21, 2006.

— Jim Watson / AFP
Image:

Army personnel take part in a flag casing ceremony at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, Wednesday, July 27, 2011.

— Luis Alvarez / FR596 AP
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