"Obama pays wounded servicemen a visit" October 11, 2011|Associated Press
BETHESDA, Md. - President Obama used a quiet Columbus Day holiday to meet with wounded service members at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Obama traveled to the facility in Bethesda, Md., just outside Washington, yesterday afternoon and met with 38 wounded service members, the White House said. Thirty-five of the service members were injured in Afghanistan and three were injured in Iraq.
During the 2 ½-hour visit to the hospital, the president awarded four Purple Hearts.
Obama has occasionally visited service members wounded in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
He visited the National Naval Medical Center in February and made a trip to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in June, before the center was renamed and moved to its current location.
The 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan was marked last week. Obama has announced plans to end the US combat mission there by the conclusion of 2014.
Steps are also under way to bring all US troops home from Iraq by the end of this year. The Iraq war began in 2003.
The visit to the hospital was closed to news coverage, and the names of the soldiers, sailors, Marines, and Air Force personnel were not released by the White House....
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I heard he spoke to them yesterday; however, it never made Globe print.
