Generations of Wheelchair Athleticism 

George Field, 83, talks with 27-year-old James Patin. The oldest competitor at the 29th annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Spokane, WA, was 85. The youngest 21. The generations had much to teach each other.

The 29th National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Spokane, WA, brought together about 600 athletes with 600 life stories.

What every story has in common are military service and catastrophic disabilities. Those stories span nine decades and six wars, plus humanitarian missions, such as in Bosnia, and police actions, such as in Panama. There was even some peacetime for the U.S. military during those years. 

The oldest athlete at the Games was 85. The youngest were 21. Marine Corps veteran Tim Vixay is 21. Between competitions, he chatted with some of the older veterans and found comfort.

“I talked to a few of them,” Vixay said. “I think it’s kind of like a ‘never give up’ sort of thing. When you first get injured, you feel a little helpless. When you see a guy that’s been injured 40 or 50 years living up to his potential, it makes you want to go out and do things.”

Vixay was injured in a swimming accident last year, mere months before his unit was split between Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

“For the first four months that was the hardest thing to deal with,” he said.

Wayne Field understands Vixay’s wish to be fighting alongside his comrades. He spent his first few months in the Army unable to ship out.

“I was only 17; they wouldn’t let me go active duty,” Field explained. “I was chomping at the bit—I had to jump in there and win the war.”

That was World War II. Field was in the Army from 1944 to 1946. He wasn’t in the infantry when he got to Europe, but that didn’t stop brass from putting him there when needed. That’s how his slow trip to a wheelchair started.

“If they needed infantry, we became infantry,” Field said. “We were charging a French village, and all of a sudden, I didn’t have legs.”

Well, he had legs, just not use of them. Today the military would probably list him as TBI, traumatic brain injury. Field doesn’t recall what happened exactly. What he does remember is lying in the snow for a long time. His legs froze, but he managed to keep them and even walk with a great deal of pain.

By the 1960s, he was on crutches, and eventually in a wheelchair. None of that has kept him from being active. He started competing in specialized sporting events when Ronald Regan was president, a year before Vixay was born. 

“I started going to the Wheelchair Games in ’93,” Field said. “The Senior Olympics in ’87.”  

Nevertheless, he thinks old dogs have something to learn from the puppies. Coincidentally, it’s the same lesson Vixay is learning from him.

“One thing, as you get older, you’re inclined to give up,” he said. “You look at the younger ones just starting out, and you want to stop being tired and go on.”

Field is an associate member of the Mountain States Chapter of Paralyzed Veterans of America. Vixay is a member of the California chapter.   

Melanie Downing is 82. The 195054 Navy veteran is at her fourth National Veterans Wheelchair Games. She loves being around the “Fields” and “Vixays” alike.

“It is so awe inspiring,” she said. “I get so blown away by the young people, the old people. It’s awe-inspiring; it’s a blessing. The younger veterans are so upbeat. They’re smiling. Everything is so positive. There’s no negativity.”

She hopes being around older veterans keeps the younger ones optimistic. “That there is a future, and everything is possible. There’s a future.”

Eve Hampton lost use of her legs to transverse myelitis before she could go into the military. The 22-year-old Seattle woman made her way to the Wheelchair Games to share in the athletic spirit. She played wheelchair basketball for the University of Arizona, and thanks older veterans for the opportunity.

“It was veterans that got wheelchair sports going,” Hampton noted. “I think what’s really great about the Games is they highlight disabilities, and even abilities of the athletes, and because it moves around, it raises the awareness of cities and regions.”

Although this is the first Wheelchair Games for Vixay, he knows it won’t be the last. He’s looking forward to being an older vet, inspiring and being inspired by younger ones.

“With the way things have been going this week, it’s been a blast,” he said. “I’m making this an annual event. Maybe when I’m 80, you’ll be interviewing me about younger vets.”

Downing figures she’ll be next to him in senior events. “At 150, I’ll be here irritating everyone,” she predicted.

The National Veterans Wheelchair Games, the largest annual sporting event of its kind, is copresented annually by the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Learn more about the National Veterans Wheelchair Games>