Origins at Fort McNair

Fort Lesley J. McNair, located in the southwest of the District of Columbia on land set aside by George Washington as a military reservation, is the third oldest U.S. Army installation in continuous use in the United States after West Point and Carlisle Barracks. Its position at the confluence of the Anacostia River and the Potomac River made it an excellent site for the defense of the nation's capital. Dating back to 1791, the post served as an arsenal, played an important role in the nation's defense, and housed the first U.S. Federal Penitentiary from 1839 to 1862.

Today, Fort McNair enjoys a strong tradition as the intellectual headquarters for defense. Furthermore, with unparalleled vistas of the picturesque waterfront and the opposing Virginia shoreline, the historic health clinic at Fort McNair, the precursor of today's Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), overlooks the residences of top officials who choose the famed facility for the delivery of their health care needs.

"Walter Reed's Clinic," the location of the present day health clinic at Washington, D.C., occupies what was from 1898 until 1909 the General Hospital at what was then Washington Barracks, long before the post was renamed in honor of Lt. Gen. McNair who was killed in 1944. The hospital served as the forerunner of Walter Reed General Hospital; however, the Victorian era waterfront dispensary remains and is perhaps one of America's most historically significant military medical treatment facilities. It is reported that Walter Reed lived and worked in the facility when he was assigned as Camp Surgeon from 1881 to 1882. After having served on other assignments, he returned as Professor of Medicine and Curator of the Army Medical Museum. Some of his epidemiological work included studies at Washington Barracks, and he is best known for discovering the transmission of yellow fever. In 1902, Major Reed underwent emergency surgery here for appendicitis and died of complications in this U.S. Army Medical Treatment Facility (MTF), within the very walls of what became his final military duty assignment.^[2]

Regarding the structure itself, since the 1890s the health clinic was used as an Army General Hospital where physicians, corpsmen and nurses were trained in military health care. In 1899, the morgue was constructed which now houses the Dental Clinic, and in 1901 the hospital became an entirely separate command. This new organizational command relocated eight years later with the aide of horse-drawn wagons and an experimental steam driven ambulance in 1909. Departing from the 50-bed hospital, as documented in The Army Nursing Newsletter, Volume 99, Issue 2, February 2000,^[3] they set out due north transporting with them 11 patients initially to the new 65-bed facility in the northern aspect of the capital. Having departed Ft. McNair, the organization has since developed into the Walter Reed Army Medical Center that we know today.

As for the facility they left behind at Fort McNair, it functioned in a smaller role as a post hospital until 1911 when the west wing was converted into a clinic.

Walter Reed General Hospital and WRAMC

Congressional legislation appropriated $192,000 for the construction of Walter Reed General Hospital^[4] (WRGH, now known as "Building 1"), and the first ten patients were admitted on 1 May 1909. Lieutenant Colonel William Cline Borden was the initiator, planner and effective mover for the creation, location, and first Congressional support of the Medical Center. Due to his efforts, the facility was nicknamed "Borden's Dream."^[5]

In 1923, General John J. Pershing signed the War Department order creating the "Army Medical Center" (AMC) within the same campus as the WRGH. (At this time, the Army Medical School was relocated from 604 Louisiana Avenue and became the "Medical Department Professional Service School" (MDPSS) in the new Building 40.) Pershing lived at Walter Reed from 1944 until his death there 15 July 1948.

The Walter Reed General Hospital (main building with cupola in distance at far left) in September, 1919. The WRGH was the precursor to WRAMC.

In September 1951, "General Order Number 8" combined the WRGH with the AMC, and the entire complex of 100 rose-brick Georgian Revival style buildings was at that time renamed the "Walter Reed Army Medical Center" (WRAMC). In June 1955, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) occupied the new Building 54 and, in November, what had been MDPSS was renamed the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). 1964 saw the birth of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing (WRAIN). Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower died at WRAMC on 28 March 1969.

Starting in 1972, a huge new WRAMC building (Building 2) was constructed and made ready for occupation by 1977. WRAIR moved from Building 40 to a large new facility on the WRAMC Forest Glen Annex in Maryland in 1999. Subsequently, Building 40 was slated for renovation under an enhanced use lease by a private developer.

In 2007, the University of Pennsylvania and WRAMC established a partnership whereby proton therapy technology would be available to treat United States military personnel and veterans in the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine's new Roberts Proton Therapy Center.^[6][7]

2007 neglect scandal

In February 2007, The Washington Post published a series of investigative articles outlining cases of alleged neglect (physical deterioration of housing quarters outside hospital grounds, bureaucratic nightmares, etc.) at WRAMC as reported by outpatient soldiers and their families. A scandal and media furor quickly developed resulting in the firing of the WRAMC commanding general Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman,^[8] the resignation of Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey (reportedly at the request of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates^[9]), the forced resignation of Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, hospital commander from 2002 to 2004.^[10] Congressional committee hearings were called and numerous politicians weighed in on the matter including President George W. Bush, who had appointed Harvey, and Vice-president Dick Cheney. Several independent governmental investigations are ongoing and the controversy has spread to other military health facilities and the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system.

2005 BRAC recommendation and 2011 closure

President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush visit Sgt. Patrick Hagood of Anderson, South Carolina on October 5, 2005.

As part of a Base Realignment and Closure announcement on 13 May 2005, the Department of Defense proposed replacing Walter Reed Army Medical Center with a new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC); the new center would be on the grounds of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, seven miles (11 km) from WRAMC's location in Washington, D.C. The proposal was part of a program to transform medical facilities into joint facilities, with staff including Army, Navy, and Air Force medical personnel.

On 25 August 2005, the BRAC Committee recommended passage of the plans for the WRNMMC. The transfer of services from the existing to the new facilities was gradual to allow for continuity of care for the thousands of service members, retirees and family members that depended upon WRAMC. The end of operations at the WRAMC facility occurred on 27 August 2011.^[11] The Army says the cost of closing that hospital and consolidating it with Bethesda Naval Medical Center in suburban Maryland more than doubled to $2.6 billion since the plan was announced in 2005 by the Base Realignment and Closing Commission.^[12]

Walter Reed Army Medical Center^[21]

Image	Rank	Name	Begin date	End date	Notes
	Major General	Carla G. Hawley-Bowland	December 2007	29 July 2011	Cased the Medical Center colors
	Major General	Eric B. Schoomaker	March 2007	November 2007	Later Surgeon General of the Army
	Lieutenant General	Kevin C. Kiley	1 March 2007	2 March 2007	Simultaneously serving as Surgeon General of the Army
	Major General	George W. Weightman	August 2006	1 March 2007
	Major General	Kenneth L. Farmer Jr.	June 2004	August 2006
	Major General	Kevin C. Kiley	June 2002	June 2004	Later Surgeon General of the Army
	Major General	Harold L. Timboe	May 1999	June 2002
	Major General	Leslie M. Burger	November 1996	May 1999
	Major General	Ronald R. Blanck	October 1992	October 1996	Later Surgeon General of the Army
	Major General	Richard D. Cameron	May 1989	October 1992	Later Commanding General, United States Army Health Services Command
	Colonel	James E. Hastings	March 1989	May 1989
	Major General	James H. Rumbaugh	August 1988	March 1989	Died while in command
	Major General	Louis A. Malogne	June 1983	August 1988	Medically retired 1 August 1988; died 22 August 1988
	Major General	Enrique Mendez Jr.	October 1981	June 1983	Later Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs)
	Major General	Bernard T. Mittemeyer	June 1980	September 1981	Later Surgeon General of the Army
	Major General	George I. Baker	March 1978	June 1980
	Major General	Robert Bernstein	June 1973	February 1978	Previously Command Surgeon, Military Assistance Command Vietnam
	Major General	William H. Moncrief	May 1972	April 1973
	Brigadier General	William H. Meroney	April 1972	May 1972
	Major General	Colin F. Vorder Brugge	January 1971	March 1972
	Major General	Carl W. Hughes	November 1970	January 1971
	Major General	Glenn J. Collins	June 1969	October 1970	Previously Commanding General 44th Medical Brigade and Command Surgeon, United States Army, Vietnam
	Major General	Phillip W. Mallory	May 1967	June 1969
	Major General	Douglas O. Kendrick	June 1965	March 1967
	Major General	Achilles L. Tynes	September 1962	May 1965
	Major General	Clinton S. Lyter	May 1961	September 1962
	Major General	C. F. St. John	July 1959	April 1961
	Major General	Leonard D. Heaton	April 1953	June 1959	Later Surgeon General of the Army
	Major General	Paul H. Streit	September 1951	March 1953

The Army Medical Center^[22]

Image	Rank	Name	Begin Date	End Date	Notes
	Major General	Paul H. Streit	January 1949	February 1951
	Major General	George C. Beach	March 1946	November 1948
	Major General	Shelly U. Marietta	February 1941	February 1946
	Brigadier General	Raymond F. Metcalfe	December 1939	January 1941
	Brigadier General	Wallace C. DeWitt	August 1935	December 1939	Namesake of former DeWitt Army Community Hospital, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
	Brigadier General	Albert E. Truby	January 1932	July 1935	As a lieutenant, Truby served under Walter Reed in Cuba during the yellow fever experiments
	Brigadier General	Carl R. Darnall	December 1929	December 1931	Namesake of Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center, Fort Cavazos, Texas
	Brigadier General	James M. Kennedy	March 1926	December 1929
	Brigadier General	James D. Glennan	March 1919	March 1926

Walter Reed General Hospital^[22]

Image	Rank	Name	Begin date	End date	Notes
	Brigadier General	James D. Glennan	March 1919	March 1926
	Colonel	Edward R. Schreiner	August 1918	March 1919
	Colonel	Willard F. Truby	November 1917	August 1918
	Colonel	Charles P. Mason	October 1916	November 1917
	Major	Percy M. Ashburn	September 1915	October 1916
	Colonel	John L. Phillips	May 1914	September 1915
	Colonel	Henry C. "Pinky" Fisher	August 1913	May 1914	[23]
	Colonel	H. P. Birmingham	October 1912	May 1913
	Colonel	Charles Richard	September 1911	September 1912
	Colonel	William H. Arthur	1 June 1908	11 July 1911	[24]Worked with Major Walter Reed at the Army Medical Bacteriological Laboratory while stationed at Fort Myer, Virginia, 1895–1897. Retired as a brigadier general in 1918.[25]