President Donald Trump is paying a holiday visit to wounded troops at a hospital outside Washington on Thursday.
It’s Trump’s second visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.
As he departed the White House, Trump called the servicemen at the facility “some of the bravest people in the world.”
“We’re just going to wish them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,” he said before boarding his Marine One helicopter. “We love those people.”
Trump’s two predecessors also made visits to Walter Reed to visit troops wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama said the visits were grueling emotionally, but they also spoke of the inspiration garnered by witnessing Americans recovering from terrible injuries. Obama visited Walter Reed 23 times as president.
