166
167

1970–1979
168

u Architect’s model of the new hospital building, showing its relationship 

to the rest of the campus. The model 

resides in the National Museum of 

Health and Medicine.

Source: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 

Directorate of Public Works Archives

The events of this decade clearly 

focus on the construction and 

occupancy of the new clinical 

building, designated Building 2. In 

1967 with the assistance of Senators 

Dirksen, Russell and Stennis, Army 

Surgeon General and former Walter 

Reed Commanding General Leonard 

D. Heaton procured funds from 

Congress to start planning for a new 

hospital facility. The construction of 

Building 2 changed the face of the 

entire medical center. In actuality, 

work had begun several years earlier 

when a new commissary and postexchange complex were planned and 

construction begun at Forest Glen. 

These services were moved from Walter 

Reed’s main campus to make room for 

the new hospital building. The motor 

pool, engineer shops and laundry were 

also moved to new facilities at Forest 

Glen. To provide for enlisted housing, 

Abrams Hall was constructed during 

the same time period and opened in 

1975. Before ground was broken for the 

new hospital, two temporary buildings 

(T-2 and T-20) were built to house 

important facilities that could not 

be moved to Forest Glen. Thirty-five 

plus years later both these temporary 

buildings still remain in use. Under the 

supervision of the Baltimore District 

of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

the official groundbreaking ceremony 

took place on August 26, 1972. Those 

in attendance included Secretary of 

the Army, Robert Froehlke, the Deputy 

Chief of Staff for Personnel, Lt. General 

W. T. Kerwin, the Surgeon General, 

Title page - Looking north, this photograph demonstrates construction of the 

new clinical building well underway. The underground parking garage can be 

seen to the right of the main building and appears to be at about the fifth floor 

level. Construction would take 5 years and 1 month, from groundbreaking on 

August 26, 1972 until dedication on September 26, 1977. 

Source: National Museum of Health and Medicine, AFIP, WRAMC History Collection

168

Lt. General Hal B. Jennings and 

WRAMC Commander Maj. General 

William H. Moncrief.

Complete construction took over five 

years. During construction the amount 

of dirt that was moved would have 

completely filled and buried RKF 

Stadium. The trucks used to move 

the earth would have extended from 

Washington to 40 miles past New York 

City. The steel used to reinforce the 

110,000 cubic yards of concrete used 

would have stretched from Washington 

to Denver. The completed building had 

5500 rooms, 28 acres of floor space, 1280 

patient beds and 16 operating rooms. 

Construction included an electrical 

generating plant capable of providing 

enough power for a city of 50,000 

people and an underground garage 

for more than 1000 cars. There were 

over 800 workers on site each day and 

toward the end of construction when 

finishing work had to be completed on 

the inside, there were over 1200 workers 

each day. Unique features included 

an interstitial floor that included 

air conditioning, heating, electrical, 

plumbing and life support systems 

and was where 80% of the maintenance 

work would take place. The interstitial 

space also included a monorail track 

system that was to handle linen and 

medical supplies, as well as, a first in 

the industry patient food cart system. 

A separate tele-lift system was to carry 

administrative materials, laboratory 

samples, x-ray records and patient 

records. More than 1100 additional 

civilian employees were hired to work 

in the new facility. 

Special guest of honor for the 

dedication ceremony that took place 

on September 26, 1977 was Daisy Reed 

Royce, granddaughter of Maj. Walter 

Reed, the medical center’s namesake. 

Also in attendance was former First 

Lady Mamie Eisenhower, Senator 
169

John Stennis, Secretary of the Army, 

Clifford Alexander, Army Chief of 

Staff, General Bernard Rogers, chief 

of the Corps of Engineers, Lt. General 

John Morris, the Surgeon General, Lt. 

General Richard Taylor and Walter 

Reed Commanding General, Maj. 

General Robert Bernstein. Moving into 

a building of this size did not happen 

overnight; the actual move took almost 

a year during 1977-1978, mostly on the 

weekends. The continued functioning 

of the medical center during these 

years of construction and moving is 

truly a remarkable monument to the 

dedication and service of the soldiers 

and civilians of WRAMC. 

Other construction also took place in 

the early 1970s with an addition to the 

Armed Forces Institute of Pathology 

(AFIP) building. In contrast to the 

original AFIP building that was built 

without windows, this addition to 

the south elevation had numerous 

windows. Opened in 1972, in addition 

to offices and other space for AFIP it 

housed the National Museum of Health 

and Medicine, the former Army Medical 

Museum that dated back to 1862.
170

p Aerial view of old hospital facing south. The buildings at the bottom of the picture were demolished to make room for 

the new hospital. 

Source: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Directorate of Public Works Archives

p Architect’s model of the new hospital rising above the old. 

Source: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Directorate of Public Works Archives
171

Groundbreaking ceremony for the new hospital. From left to right are: Surgeon General Hal Jennings; Secretary of the Army, 

Robert Froehlke; Lt. General W. T. Kerwin; and Maj. General William H. Moncrief, WRAMC Commander. August 26, 1972.

Sources: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Directorate of Public Works Archives
172

Various stages of construction of the 

new hospital, 1973–1976.

Sources: National Museum of Health and Medicine, WRAMC History Collection
173
174

p Dedication and opening ceremo-

nies for the new hospital building on 

September 26, 1977.

Source: National Museum of Health and Medi-

cine, WRAMC History Collection t Setting the dedication plaque of the 

hospital are Maj. General Robert Bern-

stein and Daisy Reed Royce, grand-

daughter of Maj. Walter Reed.

Source: National Museum of Health and Medi-

cine, WRAMC History Collection
175

p The lower entrance lobby to the new hospital, with plenty of waiting area when it opened in 1978.

Source: National Museum of Health and Medicine, WRAMC History Collection

p A commemorative coin minted to celebrate the opening of the new hospital. Sept. 26, 1977.

Source: Pierce Collection
176

Architect’s renderings of Abrams Hall. 

Sources: Pierce Collection
177

t Cover of the program for the 

Abrams Hall dedication. Abrams Hall 

was dedicated in 1975 as the primary 

residence for single enlisted men and 

women. It was named in honor of 

General Creighton W. Abrams, Army 

Chief of Staff from 1972 until his death 

in 1974 at the hospital. Mrs. Abrams 

attended the ceremony and unveiled 

the plaque officially naming and opening the building. 

Source: Pierce Collection

q Abrams Hall was dedicated in 

1975. It was designed to be the primary residence for single enlisted men 

and women. This photograph is circa 

1985, when the building had been in 

use for a decade.

Source: National Museum of Health and Medicine, AFIP, WRAMC History Collection
178

u Postcard showing the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and its new Medical Museum wing.

Source: National Museum of Health and Medicine, AFIP Files, Rededication of Museum Folder 1971

p Construction of the Medical Museum wing on the Armed 

Forces Institute of Pathology’s A-bomb-proof building.

Source: National Musuem of Health and Medicine, AFIP Files, Rededication of Museum Folder 1971
179

Exhibit space inside the National 

Museum of Health and Medicine. First, 

looking right, historical transportation 

models, a Vietnam War exhibit with an 

AK-47 and punji sticks, and the history 

of the microscope. Second, looking 

left, pathology and anatomy of the 

human body. Third picture, center of 

museum showing history of museum 

exhibit, including one at Walter Reed.

Source: National Museum of Health and Medicine, AFIP, WRAMC History Collection, AFIP 

Files, Rededication of Museum Folder 1971 

t Part of the filariasis exhibit at the 

museum, 1972. 

Source: National Museum of Health and Medicine, AFIP, NCP 2484

In 1971, the Medical Museum of the 

Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 

founded in 1862 during the Civil War 

as the Army Medical Museum, opened 

on the WRAMC campus. The Museum 

was displaced from the National Mall, 

its home since 1887, by the Hirschhorn 

Museum. Once at WRAMC, it stayed 

open for three years, and then its space 

was used by the Uniformed Services 

University of the Health Sciences until 

1976. 
180
181

The ceremonial opening of a new shopping center in the Walter Reed Annex at Forest Glen. August 1971.

Source: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Directorate of Public Works Archives

u Bowling alley at Forest Glen.

Source: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 

Directorate of Public Works Archives
182

p The Hoff Memorial Fountain gets a good cleaning. The penguins were replaced in the 1990s with plastic replicas.

Source: National Museum of Health and Medicine, WRAMC History Collection

t This postcard reads: “Hoff Memorial Fountain, erected in 1935, located 

at the main entrance to the Administration Building. Walter Reed General Hospital, Army Medical Center, 

Washington, D.C. Erected in memory 

of Col. John Van Rensselaer Hoff, MC, 

U.S.A., famous military surgeon who 

died in 1920. The fountain is surrounded by tulips of many varieties donated 

by people of the Netherlands following 

World War II.”

Source: Pierce Collection
183

Demonstration of ambulances at the hospital.

Sources: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Directorate of Public Works Archives
184

Front cover of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center guidebook, 1979. To the right of the photo, the physician with the 

stethoscope around his neck is Ronald Blanck. Dr. Blanck would serve as WRAMC Commander from 1992 to 1996 and as 

Army Surgeon General from 1996 to 2000.

Source: Pierce Collection
185

Head Nurse Janet Rexrode, Pediatrics, Ward 22, styling the hair of a young patient. Colonel Janet Rexrode Southby 

would return to Walter Reed and serve as Chief, Department of Nursing. She has served as President of the Walter Reed 

Society from 2001 to the present.

Source: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Directorate of Public Works Archives
186

An operating room nurse clinician coordinating the activities involved with the production of an instructional television 

program, 1973. 

Source: National Museum of Health and Medicine, AFIP, NCP 1737
187

p Bob Hope appeared at Walter 

Reed Army Medical Center on De-

cember 30, 1973, with a mini-troop 

of entertainers to make the holiday 

season a little more enjoyable for the 

patients and staff at WRAMC. Hope’s 

troop of entertainers consisted of Betty 

Joe Grove, Miss Maryland; Priscilla 

Barnes, Miss San Diego; and Lynda 

Carter, Miss World—USA 1972. Hope 

played to a standing-room-only crowd 

in the Main Post Theatre and then 

visited Ward 24 before making his trip 

back to California. (Original caption)

Source: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 

Directorate of Public Works Archives u Army Chief of Staff General William 

Westmoreland visits with a patient at 

Walter Reed Hospital on Thanksgiving 

Day, 1970.

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical 

Collection
188

p Mrs. Arthur Berger, Red Cross 

Volunteer at Walter Reed General 

Hospital, shows a book from the li-

brary cart to SSG James L. Broyles 

(Holly Grove, Ark.) a patient on Ward 

28. The cart is taken to the wards by 

the volunteers for the patients who are 

unable to utilize the main library facili-

ties. Signal Corp photo by SSG Larry 

Sullivan. (Original caption)

Source: National Musuem of Health and Medi-

cine, WRAMC History Collection t A section of the Medical Library, 

Walter Reed General Hospital. The 

Medical Library is operated as a sec-

tion of the Main Library of the hospital. 

Signal Corps photo by SSG Larry Sul-

livan. (Original caption)

Source: National Museum of Health and Medi-

cine, WRAMC History Collection
189

p Mr. Charles L. Johnson, Civilian Librarian Aide, at Walter Reed General Hospital plays one of the talking books from the 

library for SGT Larry J. Whitt (Hunt, WV), a patient on Ward 35. The talking books are provided by the library to be used by 

patients who are blind or unable to read for other reasons. Signal Corps photo by SSG Larry Sullivan. (Adapted from original 

caption)

Source: National Museum of Health and Medicine, WRAMC History Collection
190

Ward 1, the male officers’ Orthopaedic Ward, was known as the “snake pit” during the Vietnam War. 

Sources: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Directorate of Public Works Archives
191

Patients in orthopaedic beds with traction for fracture management.

Sources: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Directorate of Public Works Archives
192

p Evaluation of test socket for above-knee amputee.

Source: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Directorate of Public Works 

Archives

t Tilt-table therapy for return to ambulation following bed rest.

Source: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 

Directorate of Public Works Archives

q Building an upper extremity prosthesis in the hospital 

prosthetic shop.

Source: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Directorate of Public Works 

Archives
193

Some forms of occupational therapy 

are constant. Here, a patient is working on a power wheel just as his 

predecessors did in earlier decades. 

Other activities designed to strengthen 

muscles and improve coordination 

were performed in the occupational 

therapy clinic (below).

Sources: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 

Directorate of Public Works Archives
194

The Entrance Walkway with the Tulip Garden.

Source: WRAMC, History Collection
195