WASHINGTON

Trump offers 'congratulations' to soldier awarded Purple Heart

Gregory Korte

USA TODAY

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump talks with Sergeant First Class Alvaro Barrientos and his wife Tammy after awarding the Purple Heart to him during a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland Saturday.

WASHINGTON — President Trump made his first official visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Saturday, awarding a Purple Heart to a soldier injured in Afghanistan and visiting wounded military personnel for an hour and a half.

"When I heard about this I wanted to do it myself," Trump said, pinning the Purple Heart to Army Sergeant First Class Alvaro Barrientos. "Congratulations. Tremendous."

Barrientos, who was injured while deployed in Afghanistan, sat in a wheelchair with what appeared to be an amputated right leg. Trump pinned the decoration for wounded soldiers on the sergeant's lapel and posed for a photo, clapping him on the back and kissing his wife Tammy on the cheek.

The visit fulfills what has become a solemn presidential duty, especially in the aftermath of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Obama made 23 trips to the hospital during his presidency; President George W. Bush made 16.

Travelling to the Bethesda, Md. hospital by motorcade — and passing protesters in town for the March for Science — Trump was accompanied by first lady Melania Trump.