Walter Reed hospital holds closing ceremony

Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the principal hospital for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, held a closing ceremony on Wednesday, as authorities prepared to move hundreds of patients to new and refurbished facilities in Maryland and Virginia. Next month, Walter Reed's hospital operations will be moved to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, and to a new facility in Fort Belvoir, VA. The hospital's patients will be moved in ambulances one by one, and outpatients, many of whom live in housing in the Walter Reed complex, will be moved in cars and moving vans over two weekends in August, officials said.  There are about 430 outpatients. The number of inpatients, currently about 150, will decline to about 50 by the time the move takes place in August. Walter Reed has treated wounded soldiers for generations, and the closing of the hospital, which opened in 1909, drew an emotional response from some gathered for the occasion. Flags were folded up and put away, and parachutists jumped from planes at the end of the ceremony.