Veterans receive free Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings in downtown LA

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- They give so much for their country but on Thursday veterans and their families had a Thanksgiving meal like no other.

The folks at AEG partnered with renowned chef Wolfgang Puck to give out free meals at The Novo in downtown L.A.

"Well thank you very much for doing. Thank you. It is fantastic. It makes you feel like someone cares," said veteran Julian Salas. "Too many lives were lost for us to have this freedom and those are our heroes."

"This is our 11th annual feast for vets and families and we've been doing it for a long time," said Mark Girton from AEG. "We get anywhere between 600 and 1,200 people every year...We do it because we care...we wanted to have an opportunity to give back to the community. Vets are folks who have clearly given a lot, and a lot of them don't necessarily have families and we wanted to be able to give them a great experience on Thanksgiving because we appreciate them."

The volunteers serving the meals were overjoyed to do it.

"You know, thank you for everybody's service, and without them we wouldn't be able to enjoy the life and pleasures of America," said Manuel Martinez, who volunteered at the event.

"There's nothing bigger than being able to give back to the veterans for all the work that they've done for us," said Courtney Bates, another volunteer.