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I just checked the Snopes website, and it turns out the Walter Reed DOESN'T accept cards that are generically addressed to "A Recovering/Wounded Soldier." It's for security reasons, which I don't totally agree with, but that is apparently a DOD Regulation and so these cards won't be delivered. In fact, the US Postal Service will not even deliver them to Walter Reed.
It you want to do something for soldiers at Walter Reed, you can send small gifts (i.e., phone cards, CD's, individual packages of candy) through the Red Cross, which has operations at Walter Reed. Probably at other military hospitals, too.
Their address:
American Red Cross Walter Reed Army Medical Center 6900 Georgia Avenue NW Washington, DC 20307-5000 www.redcross.org
If you have any questions, you can call them at 202-782-6362. I spoke to a representative earlier today, and their caveat for gifts is to remember that anything that comes gift-wrapped must be opened before being distributed to a soldier (security again), so don't bother with gift wrap. And mail them SOON so they can be there and distributed for the holidays.
Now if you really want to send a card, the Red Cross says that there is an organization that is collecting generic holiday cards and then distributing them to hospitals across the country. That address:
Operation Holiday Saints c/o E. D. Hill Fox News Channel 1211 6th Ave; 17th Floor New York, NY 10036
Fox News? Sticks in my craw (whatever a "craw" is), but remember that it's for the troops.
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