Ick's Corner

Decorated U.S. Army Veterans Look for Medals at Paralympics

Melissa Stockwell has her share of coveted medals, like a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

She was awarded those after her left leg was blown off almost 4 1/2 years ago, as a U.S. Army second-lieutenant hit by a roadside bomb during a routine convoy through Baghdad.

Now Stockwell is among 4,000 athletes competing in the Paralympic Games which open Saturday, and taking a medal there would offer a different kind of affirmation.

“Winning a (Paralympic) medal would show how far I’m come since getting the Purple Heart,” said Stockwell, a 28-year-old swimmer with broad, tanned shoulders and a prosthetic left leg painted red, white and blue and flecked with a few stars and stripes.

“The medal would be great, but it would be icing on the cake,” she said. “In my mind I’ve made it here, and that was my goal in the first place.”
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Stockwell is one of just two U.S. military veterans competing in Beijing who suffered traumatic injuries in Iraq. The other is Scott Winkler, who competes in discus and shot put. Winkler suffered paralysis after being injured in 2003 in Tikrit. In all, there are 16 veterans in the U.S. team of 213 athletes.

Let us never forget the true heroes.