WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden made his first significant foray outside the White House on Friday with a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to meet with wounded soldiers. Before touring the vaccine distribution center, Biden met with both active duty and retired service members receiving treatment at the facility. “These kids are amazing, and thank God there are not as many people to visit,” he said, calling those at the hospital” real heroes.” Biden has a long and personal history with the hospital, which treats thousands of military service members, veterans, and families. His son Beau, a Delaware Army National Guard major, died at Walter Reed in 2015 of brain cancer. Biden said Friday that the hospital cared for Beau “in his final days with great grace and dignity.”
Even before Beau’s treatment at the hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside Washington, Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, were frequent visitors during his time as vice president, making multiple Christmas Day stops to meet with soldiers. Jill Biden focused on promoting awareness of issues affecting military families during that time, and on Friday, she participated in a virtual event with military-connected students.
At the White House, the first lady tried to encourage military high school students who told her they wanted people to know that they serve the country, too. The students participate in a peer support program to help other military students settle into a new school. Jill Biden told the students during the virtual roundtable that she and the president appreciate their sacrifices.
“I don’t want you to feel like we don’t see you,” she said. “We see you, and we appreciate every single day all that you’re doing and, you know, especially during this pandemic, when acts of kindness are especially so important to other people, other students.” Walter Reed also features a specially outfitted suite for presidents to receive treatment. President Donald Trump was admitted there for a few days last October to receive treatment for the coronavirus. It was one of just a few trips to the hospital made by Trump, who broke with President Obama’s predecessor to visit troops there. Obama made nearly two dozen trips to the hospital to meet with wounded soldiers.
Biden’s early visit to Walter Reed marks one of his first departures from the gated White House campus. Throughout the transition and even during the campaign, Biden has pared back his travel and in-person meetings, virtually doing as much work as possible to minimize the risk of spreading the coronavirus. In the ten days since he was president, Biden’s only other ventures beyond the White House complex included visiting the Lincoln Memorial for a celebration on Inauguration Day evening and a visit to church last Sunday. Calling all HuffPost superfans! Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost’s next chapter.
