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Valor Games Midwest Kick Off At Soldier Field

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Military veterans with various disabilities are in Chicago competing over the next three days in the fifth annual Valor Games.

The Valor Games Midwest includes events such as discus, shot put, cycling, archery, powerlifting, and indoor rowing. Competitions will take place at Armour Square Park and Marquette Park on the South Side.

"Each year we continue to grow. This year we have 200-plus athletes registered for the event. They come from as far west as California, as far east as the Eastern Seaboard," said Kam Buckner, executive director of World Sport Chicago, which runs the Valor Games. "It gives us a chance to give back to a group of folks who have given back so much to all of us."

Buckner said similar competitions have popped up all over the country.

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WBBM's Mike Krauser reports during the opening ceremony at Soldier Field Tuesday morning, the athletes heard from Army veteran Melissa Stockwell, who lost her left leg in a roadside bomb in Iraq 11 years ago.

"Athletics gave me self-worth, it gave me self-confidence," she said.

Stockwell swam in the Paralympic Games in Beijing and hopes to compete in the triathlon in Rio.

Before the games got underway, there was a moment of silence for Sergeant Corey Hood, an Army Golden Knights parachutist who died after an accident at the Air & Water Show last weekend.

Organizers were also trying to get 1,000 personal messages posted on social media with the hashtag #WallofThanks, which is becoming an actual physical wall of thanks at Soldier Field.

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