Left, The original Red Cross building at Walter Reed in 1924.
The first Red Cross building, known formally as the Convalescent House and informally as the ìHut,î was completed during the early 1920s. It became the headquarters of the Gray Ladies, the American Red Cross volunteers who got their name from the gray aprons they were required to wear over their white dresses.
Patients at Walter Reed began calling them ìGray Ladies,î and the name stuck. The group was headed by Edith Rea, the local field director for the American Red Cross, and her assistant, Margaret Lower. Rea was the only woman field director during World War I. The house, built entirely with Red Cross funds, contained a large auditorium, a pool room, an officerís sitting room, and bedrooms for family members of recovering patients.
The wood frame building was later replaced with the current brick building (Building 41), and Red Cross staff eventually moved into the Heaton Pavilion (main hospital).
To this day, Red Cross volunteers are vital to the rehabilitation and recovery process for patients at Walter Reed.
To donate items to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center history office, contact Cathy Sorge at (202) 782-6144 or Catherine.Sorge@amedd.army.mil.
Left, The original Red Cross building at Walter Reed in 1924.
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