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Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (formerly known as the National Naval Medical Center and colloquially referred to as Bethesda Naval Hospital, Walter Reed, or Navy Med) is a United States military medical center located in Bethesda. It is one of the largest and most prominent military medical centers in the United States, and it has provided medical care for several United States presidents since its opening in 1940. In 2011, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, named after yellow fever researcher Walter Reed, was combined with the National Naval Medical Center to form today's tri-service Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. In 1938, the United States Congress appropriated funds for the acquisition of land for the construction of a new naval medical center, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt selected the present site in Bethesda, and exterior design for it, on July 5, 1938. Ground was broken by John McShain Builders for the Naval Medical Center on June 29, 1939, by Rear Admiral Perceval S. Rossiter, and President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Tower on Armistice Day, November 11, 1940. The original Medical Center included the Naval Hospital, designed to hold 1,200 beds, and the Naval Medical School, the Naval Dental School, now the National Naval Dental Center and the Naval Medical Research Institute. In 1945, at the end of World War II, temporary buildings were added to accommodate up to 2,464 wounded American sailors and Marines. (Wikipedia)