Winnefeld Visits Invictus Games

By Air Force Tech. Sgt. Chris Powell

Air Force News Service

LONDON, Sept. 16, 2014 – Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, attended the first day of the Invictus Games Sept. 11, where he spoke with competitors, presented medals and met with Prince Harry and senior foreign military officials.

“One of the things I’ve learned while watching [the competitors] is the triumph of ability over disability,” Winnefeld said. “These folks have given so much to their country and they’ve suffered wounds -- both internal and external. They’re showing us through their hard work, their teamwork and their companionship that they’re able to overcome all of that and become something that’s bigger than their injury.”

This was the first year of the Invictus Games, which were founded by The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and the Ministry of Defense following a visit by the prince to the 2013 Warrior Games in Colorado.

The games are named after William Earnest Henley’s 1875 poem titled “Invictus,” which he wrote while recovering from an intensive surgery that saved his second leg from being amputated. They were held at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the Lee Valley Athletics Centre and ended Sept. 14.

Athletes competed in various Paralympic-style events, including swimming, track and field, seated volleyball, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby.

The admiral said the Invictus Games are also about helping the athletes competing prove something to themselves.

“The wounded warriors get internal and external things that are very important. Internally, they prove to themselves that they can rise above their injury through hard work, and dedication enables them to do things they never thought they’d be able to do,” he said. “Externally, they get to see the tremendous love, adoration and respect that these great audiences and their family members have for them.”

More than 400 service members -- including 98 Americans -- from 14 nations competed in the games, and Winnefeld stressed the importance of participation by coalition partner nations.

“Each one of these people were injured or wounded in the coalition fight,” he said. “We go to war against extremism and terrorism as a coalition and to come back here together as that same coalition ... is a great reminder that it started as coalition and ended as a coalition.”

The word ‘Invictus’ means ‘unconquered’ and the term “embodies the fighting spirit of the wounded, injured and sick service personnel and what these tenacious men and women can achieve post-injury,” according to the Invictus Games website.