Obama Meets with Veterans at Walter Reed

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has visited service members wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and awarded two of them purple hearts.

The White House said the president met with a total of 21 wounded troops Friday — 16 who'd served in Afghanistan and 5 in Iraq. Obama faces a decision soon on how many troops to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan next month.

Obama has paid visits to wounded veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in the past, including in February, when he traveled to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., just outside of Washington.