ATLANTA — Injured U.S. military veterans swam with manta rays, giant groupers, and a whale shark at the Georgia Aquarium on Wednesday as part of the facility's Military Salute program. The veterans, members of the Wounded Warrior Project, snorkeled or swam with the whale shark Yushan, stingrays, and other marine animals.

The Military Salute program brings members of the armed forces to swim or dive with marine animals once a week. Yushan was rescued from a Taiwanese fish market several years ago and is the only whale shark in captivity in the Western Hemisphere, according to aquarium officials.

Jason Bush, manager of the aquarium's Military Salute program, said the experience gives participants time away from their daily strain. "They go in nervous and they come out saying it's the best experience they've had in their life," he said.

Bush said the buoyancy of the water offered physical relief to wounded veterans. "Whether it's swimming in the water or scuba diving in particular, you're weightless," he said. "So physically, it takes away even for a moment physical pain that you feel when you're on land."

Among the participants was William Mund, a U.S. Marine gunnery sergeant who was wounded in Iraq. Mund said the water helps with his blood flow. His swim with the whale shark was, in his words, a "once-in-a-lifetime thing."

Quentin Collins, a U.S. Army colonel, was wounded twice in Iraq, once by a mortar and once by driving over an improvised explosive device, and is paralyzed. He had not been in the water since 2020 because of his injuries. Collins recounted an encounter with the whale shark during his swim. "Actually, its wake pulled me with it. So I was swimming forward and the next thing I know, I'm going backwards and I realized the whale shark is right below me," he said. Collins's son Ian witnessed the swim.