Melissa Stockwell, Paralympic medalist and Purple Heart recipient, talks representing Team USA on global stage

American Paralympian Melissa Stockwell discusses what it means to represent the U.S. in the Paralympic Games.

For Melissa Stockwell, representing the United States on the global stage means more than most.

Stockwell served in the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division and was deployed to Iraq to serve in the war. She was wounded in a roadside bombing in Baghdad and lost a limb. She later received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

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Melissa Stockwell (Harry How/Getty Images/File)

Since 2008, Stockwell has been competing in the Paralympics. First, she competed in swimming before moving to triathlon. She won a bronze medal in the 2016 Paralympics.

"Putting on that Team USA uniform on any international athletic stage, I never take that for granted," Stockwell told Fox News Digital. "I served in the military. I wore a military uniform, which is obviously a different uniform but very similar. And now I get to represent that country I defended in a different way on the world’s biggest athletic stage. 

"There’s a lot that goes on in the world. I choose to just continue to believe in the people that live in this country. And when I put on that uniform and I race, it’s for the country that I am choosing to believe in. And it’s for those that have served and have given the ultimate sacrifice. So, that Team USA uniform has many meanings."

Melissa Stockwell of the United States finishes second in the women's triathlon PT2 during the Rio Paralympic Games on Sept. 11, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

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Stockwell, who was the recipient of P&G’s Athletes for Good grant for her work