We’ve lost a great, important part of history . . . A SAD TIME FOR AMERICA?

The historic Walter Reed Army Medical Center, formerly known as the Nation’s military flagship hospital serving more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military, will close its doors this week amidst reports of cost cutting measures and inadequate patient care for the returning Iraq and Afghanistan wounded.

After more than a century, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center facility, and the current patients housed at the center, will be moving to a new location in Bethesda, Md., starting Wednesday.

The storied hospital will be merging with the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda and a hospital at Fort Belvoir, Va.

“For many of the staff members, even though they know this is the future of the military health system, in a way, it’s still like losing your favorite uncle,” Col. Norvell Coots, commander of the facility said at a public meeting.

“So, there is a certain amount of mourning that is going on and it is an emotional time. The new facility at Bethesda will be called the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, reflecting its multi-service scope.”

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center is a vast hospital complex on the outskirts of Washington D.C., which the Army described as the "clinical center of gravity of American military medicine."