Airman Who Stopped Attack Honored in France

French President Francois Hollande on Aug. 24 presented the Legion of Honor to the three Americans and one British citizen who thwarted a potential terrorist attack aboard a high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris. Hollande said the men’s bravery “saved lives,” and that they are an “example of what can be done in a dramatic situation,” according to a Reuters and Associated Press video published by the New York Times. A1C Spencer Stone, Oregon Army National Guard Spc. Alek Skarlatos, and Anthony Sadler, as well as British businessman Chris Norman, were on the train when they saw a man? with an assault weapon. Stone sprinted at the man and put him in a choke hold, while Skarlatos told the man to stop, Stone said in a an Air Force video. Skarlatos said, “It wasn’t a conscious decision,” according to an Air Force news release. The US ambassador to France, Jane Hartley, on Monday praised the three Americans. “We often use the word hero, and in this case I know that word has never been more appropriate,” Hartley said. Stone, an ambulance service technician with the 65th Medical Operations Squadron at Lajes Field in the Azores, was injured when the gunman took out a box cutter and began slashing at him. After the ceremony in France, Stone flew to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for additional medical care.