I read with interest your article about the makeover of McGuire Veterans Medical Center. Your first line captured my heart when you said, “McGuire Veterans Medical Center is sick of being your grandfather’s hospital.”

The word grandfather caught my eye. You see, my grandfather’s land is where the hospital was built back in the early ’40s. The reason the government chose my grandfather’s land was because of the railroad track adjacent to the property. That way, the wounded could be transported to the new hospital, a few steps away.

It was a tragedy for my grandfather to lose everything he had worked for, but if he was alive today he would be proud to know what his piece of land has accomplished and how many lives have been healed there.

In the ’80s, some veterans took me to McGuire to present a picture of the home place to the president. As a child, I use to love playing on the property and have many fond memories. In my memoirs, I have written about the hospital on Broad Rock — from a child’s perspective.

Thanking you for the wonderful writing that Style Weekly offers.

Sandra Cheatham Nelson
Richmond