Heroes Awarded French Legion of Honor by President Hollande
August 25, 2015
On Monday, August 24, French President François Hollande awarded the Legion d’Honneur (Legion of Honor), France’s highest civilian award, to four men—three young Americans and one Briton—who thwarted a suspected terror attack on a high-speed train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris last Friday, August 21. The three Americans—U.S. Air Force Airman First Class Spencer Stone, 23; Alek Skarlatos, 22, a specialist in the Oregon National Guard; and their friend Anthony Sadler, 23—were on a tour of Europe. The British man, Chris Norman, 62, lives and works in France. At a later ceremony, Hollande will award the Legion of Honor to two French citizens who also played key roles in stopping the attack. With the number of recent deadly terrorist attacks around the world, the prevention of an attack without loss of life was welcome news.
The drama began Friday evening when a man emerged from a train bathroom carrying an AK-47 assault rifle. Two French passengers first confronted the gunman—Ayoub El-Khazzani, 25, a Moroccan national who had recently lived in Spain—and wrestled the rifle from him. El-Khazzani then drew a handgun and shot one of the passengers. The three Americans—quickly joined by Chris Norman—then rushed the gunman, who slashed at them with a boxcutter, nearly severing Airman Stone’s thumb. El-Khazzani was subdued and restrained with Norman’s necktie until police arrived. Paramedics then tended to the injured, whose wounds were serious but not life threatening.
After his arrest, El-Khazzani claimed he was not a terrorist but simply wanted to rob the people on the train. However, along with the handgun and boxcutter, he carried a bottle of gasoline and 270 rounds of ammunition for the AK-47. His phone also showed that he had watched a jihadist propaganda video before launching the attack. El-Khazzani was on security watch lists for ties to a militant Islamist mosque in Spain. Watch lists are primarily used at airports and border crossings, however. Currently, most trains—a mode of transportation used by millions of Europeans daily—do not require identification, bag screening, or the use of metal detectors prior to boarding.
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