Nearly 600 vets competing in Wheelchair Games

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Nearly 600 vets competing in Wheelchair Games




By Dinesh Ramde - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jun 19, 2007 20:46:24 EDT

MILWAUKEE — When a military doctor told Guenter Herold he would never walk again, the Army veteran was stunned.
But the 66-year-old needed only a short adjustment period before his fighting spirit kicked in, and he promised himself a wheelchair would never keep him from his active lifestyle.
Herold is one of nearly 600 paralyzed veterans in town for the 27th annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games at the Midwest Airlines Center. The four-day event begins Wednesday and includes weightlifting, basketball and rugby.
“I do this for the camaraderie, the sportsmanship, the spirit of competition,” said Herold, of Port St. Lucie, Fla. “I don’t feel sorry for anyone in a chair, and I don’t feel sorry for myself.”
That sense of defiance was characteristic of most of the veterans in attendance, who came from across the U.S., Puerto Rico and Great Britain. The 548 men and 47 women include five who fought World War II and 27 from Operation Iraqi Freedom.
While one in five athletes fought in Vietnam — the conflict best represented here — nearly half suffered their disabilities either in peacetime or under unspecified circumstances.
Although people tend to think of veterans as those who fought in a war, a veteran is anyone who served and was discharged honorably, said Jose Llamas, spokesman for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which co-sponsors the games with Paralyzed Veterans of America.
That includes Herold, who remembers waking up in 2000 and being unable to walk, but he declined to discuss his non-wartime injury. As an enlisted man Herold had been frustrated when the Army rejected his requests to transfer to Vietnam and instead had him serve as a pastry chef in the U.S. from 1966 to 1968.
Herold, who jokes he’s so old he worked kitchen patrol at the Last Supper, said the wheelchair games helped him cope with his disability. He will compete in bowling, discus, shot-put and air-rifle shooting.
For some, the games offer a once-a-year chance to see old buddies and reminisce with fellow athletes. Paul Jackson, one of nine British competitors, said even though he looks forward to the wheelchair-basketball competition all year, the game itself is secondary.
“This is a human game — everyone here treats everyone like a brother or sister. That’s what it’s all about,” said Jackson, 54, who served as a Queen’s Guard with the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guard but was paralyzed when he suffered a thrombosis, or blood clot, 31 years ago.
The emphasis of the games is sportsmanship and empowerment, said VA spokesman Llamas, himself an able-bodied former Marine. But for some veterans, the games represent a life-changing event.
“You’ll get people here who haven’t seen each other since Vietnam,” he said. “These big guys with tears in their eyes, it’s really cool.”



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