196
197

1980–1989
198

With the gleaming new 

clinical building into which 

all clinical care was being 

consolidated, the decade of the 1980s 

was one of settling into the new 

structure and providing improved 

and expanded clinical services. The 

number of physicians in graduate 

medical education was growing as 

more subspecialty clinical services 

were offered and more fellowships 

were established in medicine, surgery, 

pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology, 

psychiatry, radiology, pathology, and 

almost every other field of medical 

care. Even with the enormous size of 

the new building, the growing clinical 

services did cause some space as well 

as parking issues on campus. 

Title page - Taken in the early 1980s, the lack of automobiles on the campus in 

this early spring photograph would lead one to conclude that it must have been 

taken on a weekend. Construction of the main clinical building (Building 2) and 

the enlisted residence, Abrams Hall, is complete. After completion of Building 2 

in 1976, there would be no new buildings added to the campus until the mid1990s. 

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

198

u WRAIR Building circa 1985. The 

North or “Vedder Pavilion” is named 

for Col. Edward Bright Vedder (1878–

1952), one of the Army’s leading experts on tropical medicine. He established rice bran extract as a treatment 

for beriberi.

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

Despite the relative calm of the 1980s, 

the end of the decade brought very 

real sadness to the WRAMC family. 

The deaths of two successive WRAMC 

commanders within 7 months shocked 

the soldiers and civilians of the 

command and of the Army Medical 

Department. Maj. General Lewis 

A. Mologne was 56 when he died 

from complications of liver cancer 

on August 22, 1988. Dr. Mologne 

graduated in 1954 from the United 

States Military Academy at West Point 

where he had lettered in football and 

lacrosse as well as won the brigade 

championship in intramural boxing. 

He served in the Corps of Engineers 

before going to medical school. He 

trained in general surgery at Walter 

Reed and was renowned for his long 

working hours. Prior to coming to 

Walter Reed he commanded the Army 

Medical Command in South Korea. He 

was the first West Pointer to become a 

General Officer in the Medical Corps. 

He commanded Walter Reed from June 

1983 until just weeks before his death. 
199

More shocking, as it was completely 

unexpected, was the death on March 

8, 1989, of Maj. General James H. 

Rumbaugh from injuries sustained 

in a parachute jump with a surgical 

team as part of the annual Ahuas 

Tara 89 exercise in Honduras. Maj. 

General Rumbaugh died during air 

evacuation. He was 49 years old. Dr. 

Rumbaugh had served his internship 

and a residency in psychiatry at Walter 

Reed. He served in Vietnam with the 

1st Air Cavalry Division and later had 

a variety of psychiatry assignments. 

He also served as surgeon for the XVIII 

Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, NC, 

home of the 82nd Airborne Division. 

He had assumed command of Walter 

Reed in August 1988 following the 

retirement of General Mologne, and 

just 7 months before his own death.
200

Program of the Memorialization Ceremony for the Eisenhower Executive Nursing Suite. The 

6-bed suite, also known as Ward 72, serves VIP patients, including heads of state and foreign 

dignitaries, in a private and secure area of the hospital. 

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical Collection
201

Doctors at WRAMC treated a group 

of Afghan freedom fighters in 1984, 

including a 10-year-old boy. They were 

transported to WRAMC on a mercy 

flight coordinated by Americares, a 

charitable organization based in New 

Canaan, CT. 

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical 

Collection
202

In 1989, Walter Reed Army Medical Center celebrated its 80th anniversary. 

Source: National Museum of Health and Medicine, AFIP, WRAMC History Collection
203

A time capsule replaced the flagpole on the east front of Building 40 when the flagpole was moved to the front of the new 

hospital (Building 2). The capsule, containing medical items from the 1930s, was dedicated in September 1982 by Maj. 

General Enrique Mendez. Building T2 stands in the background.

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical Collection

Georgia Avenue view of WRAMC in the 1980s.

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical Collection
204

Staff members from WRAMC TV film the 1985 Easter Sunrise Service. The broadcast was shown on the base’s closedcircuit TV for patients and servicemen who could not attend in person. 

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical Collection
205

p President Ronald W. Reagan greets SFC Billie Leland with the nurses on the VIP Ward (Ward 72) at Walter Reed in the 

late 1980s. Between the President and SFC Leland are Captain Rebecca Hallberg, and 2nd Lieutenant Barbara Harris. 

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical Collection

p President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan following 

his surgery at WRAMC in 1989 with Col. George Bogumill 

(center), Col. Allan Smith, Maj. Paul Perlik, and the anesthesia staff. Dr. Bogumill served as Assistant Chief of the 

Army Hand Fellowship program at WRAMC and was later 

Chief of Orthopaedics before going to USUHS as the first 

Chairman of Anatomy.

Source: Bogumill Collection p Dr. Bogumill follows up after surgery with President 

George H. W. Bush at WRAMC.

Source: Bogumill Collection
206

p Couples tour the Walter Reed Nursery during a 

childbirth preparation class at Walter Reed in 1982. The 

4-day class covered everything from labor to infant care. 

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical Collection

t Two Walter Reed nurses care for a tiny patient in the 

Neonatal ICU at Walter Reed, 1985. 

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical Collection
207

p The latest trigger point techniques to relieve chronic pain are demonstrated at a symposium at Walter Reed, 1982. 

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical Collection

t A pediatric patient who underwent 

Ilizarov fixation is celebrating the 

holidays with Col. Kathleen McHale, 

Chief, Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery. 

Source: McIlvaine Collection
208

p Jacqueline Kasper displays some of her artistic talent on the cast of a patient from Ward 57.

Source: Stripe newspaper, October 10, 1980, Tyrone Milton - photographer
209

t Carolyn Tindal, Director of Nursing 

Continuing Education, goes over plans 

for Practical Nurse in-service programs with SFC Francisco Rodriguez.

Source: Stripe newspaper, July 6, 1981, J. D. 

Fox - photographer

p Juanita Wims, Clinical Coordinator for the Dialysis Unit, makes an adjustment to some dialysis 

equipment to ready it for a patient.

Source: Stripe newspaper July 6, 1981. J. D. Fox photographer
210

Laboratory personnel at Walter Reed 

in the 1980s. 

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical 

Collection
211

t The Walter Reed staff participates 

in a mass casualty exercise in the 

hospital lobby in 1986. The scenario 

for the exercise was an explosion on 

Post. 

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical 

Collection

u Surgeons perform an open abdominal surgery in the 

main operating room at Walter Reed in 1985. 

Separate from the main OR was an Ambulatory Surgery 

Program thst offered certain procedures on an outpatient 

basis, including tubal ligation and biopsies, beginning in 

1980. 

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical Collection
212
213

Cover of the Walter Reed newspaper Stripe illustrates the realities of the Medical Hold process at Walter Reed in 1980. 

Source: WRAMC History Office, PAO Historical Collection