U.S. National Guardsman from Roseburg, Oregon, Alek Skarlatos, left, U.S. Airman Spencer Stone, 2nd left, and Anthony Sadler, right, a senior at Sacramento University in California, leave the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, with U.S. Ambassador to France Jane D. Hartley after being awarded with the French Legion of Honor by French President, Francois Hollande, Monday, Aug. 24, 2015. French President Francois Hollande and a bevy of officials are presenting the Americans with the prestigious Legion of Honor on Monday. The three American travelers say they relied on gut instinct and a close bond forged over years of friendship as they took down a heavily armed man on a passenger train speeding through Belgium. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)
The three Americans who became heroes on Friday when they thwarted a terrorist attack during their vacation through Europe were awarded Franceâs Legion dâhonneur from President François Hollande on Monday.
Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone, and Anthony Sadler were riding on a train to Paris when they noticed the heavily armed Moroccan gunman in a struggle with another man. After the terrorist, Ayoub El-Khazzani, shot the man, he was tackled, disarmed, and badly beaten by the three Americans.
Here are five things you need to know about Skarlatos, Stone, and Sadler.
They beat the terrorist until he was unconscious
Once they had successfully disarmed El-Khazzani and tackled him to the ground, the three Americans ensured that the job was complete by continuing the onslaught until he was unconscious.
âHe was just telling us to give back his gun: âGive me back my gun! Give me back my gun!ââ Sadler told the Associated Press. âBut we just carried on beating him up and immobilized him and that was it.â
âThe three of us beat him until he was unconscious,â he said.
âHe seemed like he was ready to fight to the end,â Stone said. âSo were we.â
The incident started while the three were napping
The groupâwhich had just left Amsterdamâwas actually asleep when the incident broke out, and did not wake up until El-Khazzani fired his gun.
Immediately after they woke up, they say that the gunman came running by and immediately decided to take action.
Stone says he was in a âdeep sleep,â but that when he woke up his first thought was about âsurvival, to survive and for everyone on the train to make it.â
Skarlatos was thinking the same thing, Stone says.
âAlek just hit me on the shoulder and said, âLetâs go,ââ he says.
Skarlatos has always wanted to be a cop, protecting people is âwhat he lives forâ
Skarlotosâ brother says that when he heard the amazing story of what he had done, it sounded like âjust another day.â
âIt was almost like he was just describing just a regular day to me,â said Solon Skarlatos. âYou expect him to do this.â
Skarlotos just returned from deployment in Afghanistan and plans to be a police officer when he is out of the Oregon National Guard.
Protecting people âis kind of what he lives for,â explained his mother. âThis is kind of right up his alley.â
Nobody is surprised that Stone is now known as a hero
When friends and family heard about the actions of Stone, who was slashed by El-Khazzaniâs box cutter during the initial take-down, nobody found the story hard to believe.
âI think itâs consistent with Spencerâs attitude towards life,â said his father.
âIâm not surprised he took actions into his own hands, thatâs why he wanted to join the Air Force in the first place,â said a close friend.
His high-school basketball coach said that Stone was an âinspirationâ on his team and described him as a âblue-collar straight shooter.â
âIt doesnât surprise me that he stepped up,â said his coach. âHe was always trying to pick up his teammates, from giving somebody a high five, a classmate or a teammate. After he graduated he sent me a link to a motivational speech to use in my psychology class.â
His co-workers at the grocery store where Stone worked as a bagger all agreed.
âHe always seemed like he would be there to help people out if they needed it,â said a co-worker.
Sadler did not stop once the fight was over
Even after the terrorist was overpowered, Sadler stayed in emergency mode and worked to keep the situation in order.
â[Sadler] came running into our car, yelling that the shooter was overpowered by American soldiers on leave, that everything was fine,â said another passenger on the train. âHe reassured us, he looked for survival blankets and a first aid kit for two seriously injured people.â
Each one of the close group of friends has praised the others for the heroic act.
âThe gunman would have been successful if my friend Spencer had not gotten up,â said Sadler, but Stone says that if it wasnât for the others he âwould have been dead.â
âI trust both my friends very much,â Stone said. âIf it wasnât for them I would have been dead.â
Source: Free Beacon