Walson Army Hospital: End of an Era Published April 20, 2016 By ?Chaplain (Col.) Kenneth E. Lawson Chaplain Office JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Every day I work at the Dix Chapel, next to the crumbling Walson Army Hospital. Demolition crews are busy salvaging what they can and demolishing what remains. As the largest building on Dix, it is easy to give people directions to my office. I often say, "Look for the nine story brick building, and we are next to it." But in a few more months, that nine story brick building will be gone, no longer needed, bypassed by technology and medical advances. The Walson Army Hospital opened its doors in April 1960. It replaced the hastily built wooden medical and hospital buildings at Dix that were needed during and after World War II. The new hospital was named after Brig. Gen. Charles M. Walson who was Army II Corps surgeon general from 1940 to 1945. The new brick hospital was an architectural marvel, with 500 beds and over 325,000 square feet. Towering over then-Fort Dix, the hospital had all the latest technology, with a paging system, an inter-floor message system through pneumatic tubes, and televisions in every room. The massive building was comfortable year round, with advanced heating and air conditioning technology. Surgical facilities at Walson Army Hospital included eight operating rooms. Other services provided at the hospital included dental, X-ray, eye-ear-nose-throat, psychiatry, and children's medical services. After the completion of an expansion project in 1966, more services were available, such as a pediatric clinic, obstetrics and gynecology, neuro-psychiatry, a preventive medicine clinic and a physical examination section. The physical examination team was heavily used to support the Army Basic Training mission at Fort Dix. It was further utilized in support of two wars, the Vietnam War, which ended in 1973, and the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War. During the Vietnam War, tens-of-thousands of U.S. troops and their families received medical care at Walson Army Hospital. Dozens of Army chaplains and mental health workers effectively work with medical personnel, serving soldiers both before and after their Vietnam deployments. Many other soldiers received routine care at the hospital, from the normal bumps-and-bruises received during Army Basic Training. After the Vietnam War in 1973, the Walson Army Hospital maintained almost two decades of medical service to soldiers, family members, and veterans. During the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, Walson Army Hospital was bustling with activity, as thousands of troops processed through the hospital in preparation for deployments. During the late 1990s the hospital was briefly run by the Air Force as a downsized hospital. After the building was finally closed in the spring of 2001, folklore began to surface that the abandoned hospital was haunted. Legends were fueled by the fact that there were deaths at the hospital, and that there was a psychiatric ward and a crematorium in the building. My own experience with the Walson Army Hospital is limited. When assigned to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey in the summer of 1990, our unit came to Fort Dix for field exercises in the woods. A couple of the troops from our unit received minor injuries in training, and were sent to Walson for an evaluation. I remember visiting these service members in the hospital, but it was uneventful. In 1992, at the recommendation of the Base Realignment and Closure Committee (BRAC), the antiquated Walson Hospital was transferred to the Air Force. From 1992 to 2001, then-McGuire Air Force Base sponsored a clinic in the lower floors of Walson, while the upper floors were left to decay. In 1995, it was noted that "the hospital is merely a shell for a limited-services clinic. Its walls are crumbling and its wards are empty." Some in-patient services remained, but the majority of the medical work was out-patient. On April 30, 2001, Walson Hospital closed its doors for the last time, as the Air Force vacated the building. Medical care was transferred to the new medical clinic at McGuire Air Force Base. U.S. Army Chaplain (Col.) Ron Benzing served as the Garrison Chaplain at Fort Dix from July 1990 through July 1992. He recalled, "One of the doctors attended our services at the Main Post Chapel and I baptized two of his children. We had a weekly morning prayer breakfast in the hospital dining facility attended by the commanding general, deputy commanding general, chief of staff, command sergeant major, a couple of other chaplains, and two of the brigade commanders." Benzing spent many hours in the hospital, visiting the sick or injured, and celebrating with new parents at the birth of a child. He also was a pastor to those families and soldiers who were grieving at the death of a loved one or a friend. Related to the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991, Chaplain Benzing stated, "As we sent thousands of military to the Desert Shield/Storm war, they were examined at the hospital and I visited many of them." As I look out my office window in the Dix Chapel, I see progress being made for the demolition of the former Walson Army Hospital. History may never record the tens-of-thousands of service members and their families who received medical care at this facility. Many children were born in this hospital. Tens-of-thousands of Soldiers and others were medically treated and released from this military medical facility. Some died there, and some of the deceased had their funeral services or memorial services next door to the hospital, where I now work at the Dix Chapel. The demolition of the Walson Army Hospital marks the passing of a historic era for the Joint Base community.