Albert Lea has a lot of veterans. We have the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic, Leo Carey Post 56 of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 447. Our community strives to honor veterans well.

Friday was Vietnam Veterans Day, the day that marks the end of the Vietnam War, when soldiers who fought in Vietnam came home to the United States.

As these veterans age, we honor them for the service they gave this country. While we can honor them each Veterans Day, Vietnam Veterans Day and other holidays that honor our troops, we should think about the other days of the year we could be thanking our veterans.

We thank our veterans for the time they gave away from home, the friends they lost, and the injuries — both physical and mental — they suffered because they went oversees to fight these wars so we would not have to fight them here in the United States.

Think about the war veterans in your life — Vietnam veterans and otherwise — and say thank you today, tomorrow and the next day.