WRNMMC, Bethesda, MD  –   Walter Reed National Military Medical Center bid farewell to Army Maj. Annie Fox, a mix-breed Labrador and Golden Retriever, during a special retirement ceremony March 17 in the National Intrepid Center of Excellence at WRNMMC.
A special part of Facility Dog Program for eight years, Annie Fox is named in honor of the late Army nurse 1st Lt. Annie G. Fox, the first woman to receive the Purple Heart for combat. Lieutenant Fox earned the Purple Heart for “outstanding performance of duty, meritorious acts of extraordinary fidelity and essential service” during the attack on Hickam Field, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. At that time, the awarding of the Purple Heart did not require the recipient to be wounded in action. Regarding the canine Annie Fox, then Army Maj. Gen. Jimmie Keenan, chief of the Army Nurse Corps, commissioned the canine as an Army first lieutenant in front of WRNMMC’s historic Tower on Oct. 15, 2015. Keenan, then noted that the canines in the Facility Dog Program at WRNMMC provide comfort, support, hope and “unconditional love” to wounded, ill and injured patients, as well as to the staffs at WRNMMC and Naval Support Activity Bethesda.
Facility Dog Team Chaplain Brother David Schlatter said Annie Fox has left her mark at WRNMMC. He added the canines in the Facility Dog Program at the medical center bring “a certain enthusiasm and joy to our days here.” While the canine is headed to Michigan with her owner, Judy. Schlatter said the love and joy Annie Fox brought to WRNMMC will not end. “That legacy continues,” he said.
Amy O’Connor, a project manager in the Assistant Chief of Staff Directorate at WRNMMC, shared letters from those who encountered and were touched by Annie Fox while at the medical center. One person wrote
“Annie was the first facility dog I had ever encountered. She was brought to my room the day after I got out of the ICU after my brain surgery. She was so calm and loving. I instantly fell in love with her. During my therapy and recovery at the Brain Fitness Center, she was always there to greet me with that amazing little smile of hers. I bought my granddaughter to therapy one afternoon and she got to meet Annie. Annie gave her one of those famous smiles.”
Another person wrote, “Maj. Annie Fox gave gifts of love without every asking for anything in return, and what is so special about her work and Judy’s work with her is that the stories and memories of being cared for in a time of vulnerability in their lives, were from a place of the ‘open-est’ heart from the ‘goodest’ girl!!!”