Biden visits Walter Reed, where his son battled brain cancer

WASHINGTON – President Biden spent six grueling months at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center more than 30 years ago battling two brain aneurysms. In 2015, he was in hospital again as his son, a Major of the National Guard, lost his battle with brain cancer.

On Friday, Mr Biden once again returned to the massive military medical facility where troops with some of the most serious battlefield injuries are being treated and rehabilitated – this time for visits with wounded warriors as commander-in-chief of the country. Mr Biden’s visit to the hospital – and his private conversations with patients, their doctors and families – is a rite of passage for presidents. And less than two weeks into his presidency, the short trip from the White House gave the new occupant of the Oval Office a reminder of the costs of the war and the consequences of decisions he might be called upon to make.

“I spent a lot of time with Walter Reed,” Biden said as he left the White House for the visit. “They are great Americans. They are great people.

The president’s public grief over his son’s death made the hospital visit particularly poignant. Beau Biden was a major in the Delaware National Guard and was deployed to Iraq as a lawyer for a year while he was the Delaware attorney general.

The youngest Biden died in late May 2015 after battling cancer for almost two years. His father cited the emotional toll of his son’s death as one of the main reasons he chose not to run for president in 2016. He spoke of the personal tragedy when he met with the leaders of the hospital.

“You have done a lot for my family,” Biden said during part of the presidential visit captured by cameras. “My son, Beau, after a year in Iraq, came back with glioblastoma, you took care of him in his last days, with great grace and dignity.

Mr Biden also mentioned the time he himself, then a senator from Delaware, was a patient in hospital in the 1980s, recovering from two brain aneurysms that threatened to cut short his political career.

The president noted that he had visited the hospital often during his eight years as vice president, once, he noted, where wars across the world had sent many there. more men and women injured.

“As vice president, I would come here, my whole family, we would spend every Christmas day, here all day,” he said. Noting the reduction in fighting around the world, he added, “The good news is that there aren’t many people here today. There were a lot of them at the time.

As a presidential candidate and before that as vice president, Biden has expressed deep reservations about the use of military force around the world. During the election campaign, he pledged to “end eternal wars,” a phrase he used to describe decades-long conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Introducing Lloyd J. Austin III as his candidate for Secretary of Defense last month, Biden said the retired general shared his views on the need to avoid war.

“We need his first-hand knowledge of the immeasurable cost of war and the burden it places on our servicemen and their families to help end eternal wars and ensure that the use of force is the key. last tool in our toolbox, the last tool used to protect our national security, not the first, ”Biden said.

The president said he feels connected to the men and women who are in the military, in part because of his own son’s military service. And in his new role, he will certainly be faced with decisions that will put the troops at risk.

Mr Biden visited five amputees who had retired from military service. He also inspected a converted hospital basketball gymnasium that had been turned into a coronavirus vaccination site.

Mr Biden’s predecessor paid several visits to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed. But the most burning image of former President Donald J. Trump in hospital was his visit for treatment after being diagnosed with Covid-19 in the final months of his tenure.

In addition to posting a short video of inside the hospital while he was ill, Mr. Trump also demanded a brief ride in his motorcade of former supporters who gathered on his behalf outside the hospital. hospital, a trip that was heavily criticized by medical experts who said Mr. Trump unnecessarily risked spreading the disease to his security service.

Mr. Biden’s visit on Friday was less dramatic. He landed in the Marine One helicopter after a short flight from the South Lawn of the White House and returned less than two hours later.