#Bethesda Naval Medical Center

[retropopcult]

"Beauty contestants visit Vietnam vets": this photo features Miss World USA 1972 and future Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter (@reallyndacarter). Standing next to her are Priscilla Barnes (Miss San Diego, and a decade later would be on Three's Company) and Miss Maryland, Betty Jo Grove.

Oh, and some old guy named Bob Hope.

[usnatarchives]

Original caption: “arriving in Australia, the first Negro nurses to reach these shores try bicycle riding near their quarters in Camp Columbia, Wacol, Brisbane.” 2nd Lts: L-R: Beulah Baldwin, Alberta Smith, and Joan Hamilton. 11/29/1943. NARA ID 178140880.

“First Negro WAVES to enter the Hospital Corps School at Nat'l Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, MD.” L-R Ruth C. Isaacs, Katherine Horton and Inez Patterson. 3/2/1945. NARA ID 520634.

BLACK (military) NURSES ROCK!

By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

For National Nurses Day we highlight Black nurses who served with courage and distinction in WWII. “In the European Theater… are the first units of Negro nurses and WACS to go overseas… They are described by their Commanding Officer as being the equals of any nurses in the area…”—Truman Gibson, Jr, chief adviser on racial affairs to Secretary of War Henry Stimson

Statement by Truman Gibson, Jr., Aide on Negro Affairs to Secretary of War Stimson, 4/9/1945. NARA ID 40019813 (full doc below). Gibson was the 1st Black awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit, for advocating for black soldiers during WWII.

Capt. Della H. Raney, Army Nurse Corps, head of nursing at hospital at Camp Beale, CA, “has the distinction of being the first Negro nurse to report to duty in the present war…” NARA ID 535942.

“American Negro nurses, commissioned second lieutenants in the U.S. Army Nurses Corps, limber up their muscles in an early-morning workout during an advanced training course at a camp in Australia. The nurses will be assigned to Allied hospitals in the southwest Pacific theater.” 2/1944. NARA ID 535782.

Commissioning ceremony: Phyllis Dailey, 2nd from right, became the 1st Black nurse in the Navy Nursing Corps 3/8/1945. NAID 520618.

See also:

We honor WW2’s #InvisibleWarriors! Black Women in WWII

Pictorial History of Black Women in the US Navy during World War II and Beyond, by Dr. Tina Ligon, Rediscovering Black History.

The Closed Door of Justice: African American Nurses and the Fight for Naval Service, by Alicia Henneberry, The Text Message.

Black Female WWII Unit Gets (Congressional) GOLD! WWII’s 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion

Their War Too: US Women in the Military During WWII, The Text Message

Pictures of African Americans During World War II

African American Women in the Military During WWII

African American Activities in Industry, Government, and the Armed Forces, 1941-1945).

African Americans and the War Industry by Alexis Hill, The Unwritten Record blog

I too, am Rosie by Dr. Tina Ligon, Rediscovering Black History

Women’s History Month and African American History National Archives News special topics pages.

Mary McLeod Bethune to Return to Capitol Hill

[richardnixonlibrary]

#Nixon50 #OTD 2/13/1974 President Nixon had his annual physical examination at National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland. (Image: WHPO-E2219-05)

[naavispider]

I also found this! Thought it might be relevant

Parents Get $1 Million in False Abuse Case

By Ruben Castaneda

October 25, 2005

The federal government has agreed to pay nearly $1 million to a couple whose infant daughter was taken away from them after doctors at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda ignored the mother's pleas to test the girl for a genetic condition that causes brittle bones and instead accused the father of breaking the girl's ribs.

The father, Miguel Velasquez, was charged with child abuse.

Liliana Velasquez was tested for osteogenesis imperfecta -- also known as "brittle bone disease" -- only after an Alexandria Circuit Court judge ordered the examination, according to a federal civil lawsuit filed by the girl's parents. The test showed that the girl suffered from the condition. The charge against her father was dropped.

"I feel much better now that my name is cleared," Velasquez, 34, said yesterday. "I love my babies; they're my life. For something like this to happen, my heart was broken for a few years."

On Oct. 14, civil attorneys in the Maryland U.S. attorney's office agreed to settle the lawsuit filed by Velasquez and his wife, Alice. The deal was reached three days after the civil trial began in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

As he announced the settlement, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett apologized to the Velasquez family on behalf of the U.S. government, according to Alice Velasquez and one of her attorneys, Dorothy M. Isaacs. Bennett said the outcome was a triumph for the legal system, Isaacs said.

The medical center did not return a phone call yesterday seeking comment. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said it would have no comment because the settlement is not final until it has been reviewed by an attorney representing Liliana.

The nightmare began for the family on Feb. 3, 2000, when Alice and Miguel Velasquez took Liliana, who was 4 months old, to the medical center for a routine checkup. Alice Velasquez was an Army medical lab technician, and the family lived in Alexandria at the time.

Doctors found a bump on the left side of Liliana's rib cage, and further examination revealed that the girl had eight broken ribs and a possible fibula fracture, according to the lawsuit.

Alice Velasquez said she told doctors at the medical center that brittle bone disease runs in her family. She said she pleaded with doctors to test Liliana for the condition, but they did not.

Paul Reed, Liliana's attending physician at the medical center, immediately notified Child Protective Services in Alexandria; officials there conducted an investigation with Alexandria police, determining that Miguel Velasquez had caused the girl's injuries. Reed could not be reached yesterday.

Miguel Velasquez was charged with felony child abuse, and Liliana was put in a foster home. As part of the criminal case against her father, an Alexandria Circuit Court judge ordered the September 2001 test, which revealed that Liliana suffered from the bone disorder, according to the lawsuit.

After 18 months in the foster care system, Liliana was returned to her parents, and the criminal charge against Miguel Velasquez was dropped.

Liliana is now 6 and in first grade. She has two siblings, Tahlia, 4, and Korbin, 1. Tahlia also has the bone disorder, Alice Velasquez said. The girls cannot play sports and can run only on grass, she said. The settlement calls for Miguel and Alice Velasquez to each receive $400,000 and for $150,00 to be set aside for Liliana.

The family lives near Martinsburg, W.Va. Miguel Velasquez works as a ramp agent for an airline at Dulles International Airport. Alice Velasquez, 26, worked as an airport police officer at Dulles for the past two years but said she resigned her job this week.

The money from the settlement will allow her to stay home and take care of her kids, she said.

Miguel Velasquez -- with Alice and their children Tahlia, left, Korbin and Liliana -- said his "heart was broken for a few years," but he feels "much better now that my name is cleared." The two girls have brittle bone disease.

Sadly there are many cases like this one! I first heard of a similar case on a documentary when I was a child, and got so hooked by the fact that there are conditions out there that mimic abuse almost identically. It’s crazy. The devastation that parents who are falsely accused are left with is heart breaking. It’s why I knew it could be a possible contributing factor to Miles’s behaviour in the current day. 💔

[eopederson]

Postcard: United States Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., undated but likely 1950s.

This is now the core of the Walter Reed Medical Center where the orange idiot was treated and released most likely AMA. They must have used the Clorox treatment, for the orange creature was far less orange when it left the facility.

[harpianews]

Navy facility in Maryland on lockdown over bomb threat

Navy facility in Maryland on lockdown over bomb threat

A US Navy facility in Bethesda, Maryland, which houses the famed Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, was on lockdown Wednesday due to a bomb threat, the military facility posted on Twitter. Base said all personnel at the Naval Support Activity Bethesda facility were ordered to shelter in place after the base received an anonymous phone call around 8:45 a.m. EDT (1245 GMT), stating that…

[todaysdocument]

"Hospital Apprentices second class are the first Negro WAVES to enter the Hospital Corps School at National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, MD," 3/2/1945 

Series: General Photographic File of the Department of Navy, 1943 - 1958.  Record Group 80: General Records of the Department of the Navy, 1804 - 1983. 

[katlady1989]

The Day I Lost My Baby...

I was raised in an Irish family, my great-grandmother was full blooded Irish. My grandmother was 100% British. We were raised Catholic. I was born and raised in a Philadelphia suburb. My mother was born and raised in the South. 

I joined the Navy in 1991; I wanted a chance to become a nurse, to travel and see the world...and...to get away.  My first 2 years in the Navy were spent in Bethesda, what was then was the National Naval Medical Center, but is now Walter Reed.  In 1993, I became pregnant.  I was elated and in love with the life I was carrying inside me.  Sadly, I was being pressured to terminate the pregnancy; by my mother, my boyfriend at the time, and my grandmother.  I spent each day flipping through pages of the different stages of fetal development wondering what the little life inside me looked like that week.  As each week progressed, my baby was growing and changing, but my decision to end my pregnancy was not changing...I did not want to end my pregnancy, but I did.  

It has been 30 years since my abortion.  I remember the cold room, being alone, the coldness of the doctor and the nurse...the coldness of the table.  I was wide awake for the procedure; I had a cervical block.  I didn’t want to be asleep for this horrible choice I was making; I deserved to be awake and feel everything.  I guess this was my penitence.  Interesting how we abuse ourselves.  I felt my uterus contract and the pain that came each time...not unlike the pain my baby must have felt.  I was 13 weeks.  My baby had vocal cords, intestines, a bladder,  tiny bones, hair follicles and could even swallow. My baby...had a heart...something I clearly didn’t have.  After my abortion I had a setback; the doctor did an incomplete abortion.  I had horrible abdominal pain and went to the bathroom.  What I saw next was so horrifying I can still see it like it was yesterday.  The toilet filled with blood...and the partial remains of my baby...floating in the water.  I was so overcome with horror, fear, disbelief and angst.  I was rushed to the emergency room and admitted for observation. The doctor called my baby’s remains, “tissue”.  Tissue.  That’s what my baby was now.  Tissue.  I asked him point blank if that tissue was the remainder of my baby...he said, “yes”.  I laid on the gurney crying.  I was experiencing the loss of my baby one more time.  I was experiencing the consequences of my decision.  Maybe it was karma.  

I vowed, as I laid on the cold, hard hospital bed, to never, ever have children.  At least I was blessed to experience the joys and pains of the first trimester.  The cravings, the nausea, the loss of appetite, and the fatigue.  I was blessed to know what it felt like to plan for my baby’s entry into the world; I window shopped at Carter’s for baby clothes, I window shopped for strollers, I daydreamed about my baby’s first day of kindergarten, I planned names, I read books about breast feeding.  I began to plan for daycare.  But...it never happened.  My mother, my grandmother, my boyfriend pressured me daily, berated me for being unmarried, guilted me for wanting my baby, admonished me for potentially “ruining” his life, shamed me for my selfish choice to have a child.  I cried every single moment of the day for weeks.  13 weeks.  30 years later...and I still cry.  

I made a vow to myself when I arose from that table. I would never allow myself to become pregnant again. I...didn’t...deserve...children.  I am almost 50.  I am post-menopausal and have no children.  I kept my promise to myself; and yes...it is painful...it is a darkness that surrounds me and consumes me.  Every May I remind myself that my child would be a year older.  I mourn in private.  In silence.  I love babies and children.  I can’t hold them for too long.  I can’t be around them too long.  It reminds me of what I once had or could have had.  It reminds me of the crime I committed.  Because for the last 30 years I have chosen to live in my past.  The fact that I murdered a life.  This is my penitence.  I deserve this.  No amount of therapy has cured me. No amount of medication has made me whole.  No words can relieve the torture I have bestowed upon myself.  

If you are pregnant...right now, and trying to decide what choice to make...remember this; it is your body, your life, your child’s life.  Live your life for you. Not for others.  Make your own choices...even if that means losing a family member, boyfriend or husband for making a choice.  

Do not make the choices I made.  

[c86]

National Naval Medical Center, front from left, Bethesda, Maryland, c. 1940

Part of the hospital complex known today as Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. 8x10 inch acetate negative by Theodor Horydczak

[felhok]

Bethesda, Maryland, circa 1940. "National Naval Medical Center, front from left." Part of the hospital complex known today as Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. 8x10 inch acetate negative by Theodor Horydczak.

[coolloveshayari1fan-blog]

An Inspirational Story - Bring the Army-Navy Game to War Veterans

The Army-Navy Game is always a form of inspirational story in December every year that brings out a sort of attention that rivets the nation for a few days. From fanfare a few days before the game to game day itself when Presidents are commonly VIPs for the game, this traditional rivalry between two of the nations military outfits is a game fit for any Super Bowl. For Bennett and Vivian Levin in 2005, it was an excellent opportunity to use this sports extravaganza to do some good for the nation's wounded veterans that came back from the Middle East. See it here Ramayan

After listening to radio reports of injured American troops, they said, "We have to let them know we care". So they decided to organize a trip to bring soldiers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital to the annual Army-Navy football game in Philly, on Dec. 3. So started their inspirational story to help the less privileged.

In order for Benneth and Virian, who are self made millionaires, to set up this event, they organized their own railway line by getting others interested party to sponsor trains. In all they got 15 other rail cars to supplement the three rail cars and two locomotives they owned. They also got Amtrak to transport these cars to D.C. - where they'd be coupled together for the round-trip ride to Philly - then back to their owners later. Conrail also provided the servicing needed for the train which Benneth and Virian named the Liberty Limited. The fact that they managed get the trains together was an inspirational story itself.

At the veterans end, the couple approached Walter Reed's Hospital Commanding General through the Army War College Foundation. The general loved the idea of this inspirational story, but had to agree with certain conditions laid out by the Levins to make this a truly veterans events. There were to be no press, media, civilians, pentagon or politicians on board the Liberty Limited. The stage was set for about 90 of these veterans to be honored in the most traditional military manner.

The War College secured the seats at the stadium for the veterans. Corporate donors sponsored the goodie bags, equipment, gifts, etc. A lunch was even thrown in for the attendees who had also enjoyed the luxurious service, food and drinks on board the Liberty Limited while traveling to the stadium.

The game itself was a blow out for the Army, in usual style, but the veterans soaked up the pleasure and kind acts offered by the Levins and other. It was truly an inspirational story, and goes to show that people with money still remembered to do their share for those in greater needs. Since than the Liberty Limited has become a familiar tradition at the Army Navy Game. It is also one of the few things veterans of the United States military look forward to.

[usnatarchives]

Original caption: "arriving in Australia, the first Negro nurses to reach these shores try bicycle riding near their quarters in Camp Columbia, Wacol, Brisbane." 268th Station 2nd Lts: L-R: Beulah Baldwin, Alberta Smith, and Joan Hamilton. 11/29/1943. NARA ID 178140880.

"First Negro WAVES to enter the Hospital Corps School at Nat'l Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, MD." L-R Ruth C. Isaacs, Katherine Horton and Inez Patterson. 3/2/1945. NARA ID 520634.

BLACK (military) NURSES ROCK!

By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

For (the day after) National Nurses Week, we highlight Black nurses who served with courage and distinction in World War II. "In the European Theater... are the first units of Negro nurses and WACS to go overseas... They are described by their Commanding Officer as being the equals of any nurses in the area..." ---Truman Gibson, Jr, chief adviser on racial affairs to Secretary of War Henry Stimson

Statement by Truman Gibson, Jr., Special Aide on Negro Affairs to Secretary of War Stimson, 4/9/1945. NARA ID 40019813 (full doc below). Gibson was the 1st Black American awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit, for advocating for black soldiers during WWII.

Capt. Della H. Raney, Army Nurse Corps, head of nursing at hospital at Camp Beale, CA, "has the distinction of being the first Negro nurse to report to duty in the present war..." NARA ID 535942.

"American Negro nurses, commissioned second lieutenants in the U.S. Army Nurses Corps, limber up their muscles in an early-morning workout during an advanced training course at a camp in Australia. The nurses will be assigned to Allied hospitals in the southwest Pacific theater." 2/1944. NARA ID 535782.

Commissioning ceremony: Phyllis Dailey, 2nd from right, became the 1st Black nurse in the Navy Nursing Corps 3/8/1945. NAID 520618.

See also:

Pictorial History of Black Women in the US Navy during World War II and Beyond, by Dr. Tina Ligon, Rediscovering Black History.

The Closed Door of Justice: African American Nurses and the Fight for Naval Service, by Alicia Henneberry, The Text Message.

[greeningdc]

Akridge/Rockwood JV Would Give Momentum to the Redevelopment of Downtown Bethesda with the Winning Bid for 7550 Wisconsin Avenue

The sale of 7550 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, Maryland by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) was viewed as a “strategic acquisition” upon the announcement of the sale.  The property had served as an office building for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and had been vacant for eight (8) years, drawing the attention of Congressman John Mica (Florida), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.   Joined by seven House Republican members, the Committee called for the sale of underutilized real estate assets held by federal agencies.  Working with members of Congress, President Obama would advance the sale of excess properties with the Presidential Memorandum, Disposing of Unneeded Federal Real Estate.

At the time of the sale 7550 Wisconsin Avenue was a 120,000 square foot office building with two levels of below-grade parking located in a thriving submarket of Montgomery County surrounded by prime commercial, retail, and upscale housing, less than a block from the Bethesda Metro.  

The office building is 1.3 miles south of NIH and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, formerly the National Naval Medical Center, within walking distance or one Metro stop. 

A joint venture between the commercial real estate developer Akridge and Rockwood Capital, LLC was the winning bidder of the 2010 sale.*  In announcing the development opportunity, Akridge/Rockwood Capital JV note that “7550 will become the first essentially-new building to deliver into this thriving submarket since 2001.”  

Construction began in the fall of 2011 with an anticipated completion date in late 2012.   The property would be completely renovated and reskinned into a contemporary Class A boutique office building with sleek glass exterior.  Upon project completion, the office building would offer the only full-service rooftop entertainment space in Bethesda, as well as the market’s only private on-site, all-inclusive fitness facility, with state-of-the-art equipment.  News of the success of the project would continue, “7550 Wisconsin Ave. Gets Six New Tenants,” as reported by Commercial Property Executive, June 16, 2014.

Ginanne Italiano, President and CEO of The Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce, praised the two companies for their work on 7550 Wisconsin Ave. “The Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber is so pleased that Akridge and Rockwood are having such great success.  They took an empty shell and turned it into a true showcase within the core of Bethesda’s downtown.  We are grateful to Akridge and Rockwood for having the vision and foresight to build this beautiful building, adding to the success of our community, which we believe is the best downtown urban center in the region,” he said.

------------

*After the GSA winning bid, the following good news followed:

Akridge, Rockwood Joint Venture Wins GSA Auction Top Bid of $12.5 Million Takes 7550 Wisconsin in Online Sale, April 9, 2010

7550 Wisconsin Avenue Purchase Named Best Sales Transaction of 2010: GWCAR Award Recognizes Acquisition of Bethesda Property by Akridge and Rockwood, April 15, 2011

Akridge and Rockwood Stage “Glassbreaking” at 7550 Wisconsin Avenue: Ceremony Marks Start of Redevelopment at Bethesda Office Building, November 9, 2011

[seeselfblack]

Happy Born Day Revevern Dr. Jeremiah Wright 

Jeremiah Wright was born on this date in1941. He is an African American minister, educator and activist.

Jeremiah Alvesta Wright, Jr was born and raised in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Jeremiah Wright, Sr., a Baptist minister and Mary Elizabeth Henderson Wright, a schoolteacher and education administrator. Wright graduated from the Central High School of Philadelphia in 1959. From 1959 to 1961, Wright attended Virginia Union University and is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Zeta chapter.

In 1961 Wright left college and joined the Marines attaining the rank of private first class. In 1963, after two years of service, he joined the Navy and was then trained as a cardiopulmonary technician at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Wright was assigned as part of the medical team charged with care of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Before leaving the position in 1967, the White House Physician, Vice Admiral Burkley, personally wrote him a letter of thanks on behalf of the United States President.

During that time Wright enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1968 and a master’s degree in English in 1969. He also earned a master's degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Wright holds a Doctor of Ministry degree (1990) from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, where he studied under Samuel DeWitt Proctor, a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr.

He became pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago in 1972; it had some 250 members at the time. By March 2008 Trinity United Church of Christ had become a larger church with over 6000 members. Correspondent Roger Wilkins in Sherry Jones’s documentary “Keeping the Faith” broadcast as the June 16, 1987 episode of the PBS series Frontline profiled Trinity and Wright. In 1995, Wright was also asked to deliver a prayer during an afternoon session of speeches at the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. Wright, who began the "Ministers in Training" ("M.I.T.") program at Trinity United Church of Christ, has been a national leader in promoting theological education and the preparation of seminarians for the African-American church.

Wright has taught at Chicago Theological Seminary, Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary and other educational institutions. Wright has served on the Board of Trustees of Virginia Union University, Chicago Theological Seminary and City Colleges of Chicago. He has also served on the Board Directors of Evangelical Health Systems, the Black Theology Project, and the Center for New Horizons and the Malcolm X School of Nursing, and on boards and committees of other religious and civic organizations. He retired as pastor from Trinity United Church of Christ in early 2008. He is married to Ramah Reed Wright, and he has four daughters, Janet Marie Moore, Jeri Lynne Wright, Nikol D. Reed and Jamila Nandi Wright, and one son, Nathan D. Reed.

Wright has received a Rockefeller Fellowship and seven honorary doctorate degrees, including from Colgate University, Lincoln University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Valparaiso University, United Theological Seminary, Chicago Theological Seminary, and Starr King School for the Ministry. Wright was named one of Ebony magazine's top 15 preachers. He was also awarded the first Carver Medal by Simpson College in January 2008, to recognize Wright as "an outstanding individual whose life exemplifies the commitment and vision of the service of George Washington Carver."

See also:

- PBS - Moyner Interview 

- Historymakers.org: The Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright 

[sachkiawaaj]

Shelter in place issued at Navy base

Shelter in place issued at Navy base

BETHESDA, Md. (WJZ) — Naval Support Activity Bethesda, a Naval base in Bethesda, issued a shelter in place for over four hours Wednesday for a bomb threat at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The shelter in place, put in effect shortly after 9 a.m., remained in effect for the entire installation for just over three hours. Just after noon, the order was lifted for all locations except…

[alterannews]

Walter Reed medical center on lockdown after bomb threat

Walter Reed medical center on lockdown after bomb threat

The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland is on lockdown Wednesday morning as officials are investigating a bomb threat. Security personnel responded to an anonymous call that came in at 8:45 a.m. saying there was a bomb at or around Building 10 in the Naval Support Activity Bethesda, which is the area that houses the hospital. Building 10 is the home of the hospital’s main…