When Mankato psychologist George Komaradis walked into The Free Press newsroom on Monday, he had the look of a man emotionally satisfied. He looked happy, but in a quiet, reserved way.

It was an unusual look for people normally entering the newsroom. Many come with complaints of a relative exposed for a crime they say police took wrong. They come with complaints about the way they were portrayed in a story, that we had to tell the other guy’s side so well.

No, Komaradis was looking for a reporter to compliment. When that reporter wasn’t in, he talked to me. He was glad reporter Mark Fischenich and The Free Press told the story of some of his clients, Vietnam veterans who’ve been part of his “Thursday group.” They’re a group of vets who would meet to talk about their experiences in Vietnam, some 40 years ago.

Komaradis acknowledged it’s always a risky proposition talking to a newspaper about a sensitive subject like the way a war affects a person’s life. But these vets and Komaradis took the risk. For that we thank them.

The three vets agreed to talk to Fischenich and this newspaper for a cause that served not the newspaper but a greater good. They wanted to let Minnesota National Guard vets and their families returning from Iraq know what they might go through adapting to normal society again. The vets, to their credit, were willing to tell stories they hadn’t told publicly for 40 years.

There is perhaps no better example of the power that newspapers can have in the lives of regular people when stories can unite a community for a good cause. There’s also no better example of how newspapers are nothing without regular people willing to tell their stories. We may have a press that can churn out 25,000 newspapers in two hours, but we have nothing if the people of the community don’t care about making it better. We’re honored that vets trusted us enough to tell their stories.

But it wasn’t only the vets in the Komaradis group that helped fill the pages of a four-day series. Fischenich interviewed several soldiers who’d already returned from Iraq. The Steve and Donna Robbins family of Mapleton opened up their home to us to tell their story of what it was like for a family when Steve returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. I consider it no small feat that Fischenich got the teenagers to talk. And they spoke eloquently.

The Free Press cannot do this kind of journalism without the sincere and heroic efforts of the people willing to tell their stories. So to everyone who participated in our series, we gratefully offer our appreciation.

We’ve been humbled by the number of ordinary people and families of military we’ve heard from who say they will be more understanding of what soldiers are going through because of our series. That will be the start for these soldiers getting back into their communities, back into their families. For us, there is no greater reward.

Joe Spear is the managing editor of The Free Press. Contact him at 344-6382 or jspear@mankatofreepress.com.