Fitzsimons Army Medical Center

Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, located in Aurora, Colorado, was established in 1918 as U.S. Army General Hospital No. 21 to treat soldiers wounded in World War I and those suffering from tuberculosis. Named in honor of Lt. William T. Fitzsimons, the first American Army officer killed in World War I, the facility rapidly expanded during World War II, becoming a key center for medical research, treatment, and training. Over the decades, Fitzsimons played a critical role in military medicine, including caring for President Dwight D. Eisenhower after his 1955 heart attack. The Army decommissioned the medical center in 1999, and the site is now part of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.