Oak Harbor sailor James Shoemaker heads to Warrior Games in San Antonio
James Shoemaker will compete from his wheelchair at the Warrior Games, turning recovery into a Team Navy berth. His path runs through Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island and a Navy family.
James Shoemaker is taking a recovery story from Oak Harbor to San Antonio. The retired Navy Aircrew Survival Equipmentman 1st Class will compete from his wheelchair for Team Navy at the 2026 Warrior Games, where adaptive sports have become part of his path back into competition and community.
Shoemaker will line up in archery, swimming, track and sitting volleyball at the June 13-20 event, which will bring more than 200 wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans to San Antonio. Competition will be spread across the Henry B. González Convention Center, Bill Walker Pool, Morgan’s Sports and UTSA Park West Athletics Complex, with organizers expecting thousands of family members, friends, coaches, staff, volunteers and supporters around the athletes.
This year’s games are the 15th annual Warrior Games and the first to be hosted in San Antonio. The event was created in 2010 to support recovery and rehabilitation through adaptive sports, and Shoemaker’s journey fits that mission closely. He joined the U.S. Navy in 2005, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and stepfather, and military life gave him the career, travel and friendships that shaped him long before injury changed the shape of his competition.
Adaptive sports became part of that recovery. Shoemaker initially was unsure the programs were for him, but his children changed his mind. He wanted to show them that a setback is not the end of the road, and that resilience can be part of everyday life. Wheelchair basketball gave him a return to competition and a team, along with a group of people who understood what he was carrying without needing an explanation.
His story also sits squarely in the culture of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, where military service has shaped Oak Harbor for generations. NAS Whidbey Island was commissioned on Sept. 21, 1942, and remains the Navy’s only base for the EA-18G Growler fleet. One estimate places the broader military community tied to the installation at about 38,000 people, including active-duty personnel, reserves, retirees, families, civilian employees and contractors.
For Oak Harbor, Shoemaker’s trip to Texas is more than a competition schedule. It reflects how military service, family support, medical recovery and the island’s long connection to the Navy can turn injury into a new stage of service and pride.
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