The three Americans who stopped a terror attack on a train in France over the weekend were given the Legion of Honor award by French President François Hollande.
CNN reports:
France honors 3 Americans, Briton for stopping train attackThree days after they pounced on and subdued a gunman Friday aboard a packed train headed to Paris, American childhood friends Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos received the Legion of Honor — France’s highest recognition.The Americans, who reportedly met in middle school in California, planned on spending the summer sightseeing together. It was Sadler’s first trip to Europe, and National Guardsman Skarlatos was on a monthlong break after serving in Afghanistan. Stone is an Air Force serviceman.They will return to the United States celebrated for their courage and quick action, and for exemplifying teamwork and friendship…”By their courage, they saved lives,” President François Hollande said. “They gave us an example of what is possible to do in these kinds of situations.”
Here’s a video report from CBS News:
On a related note, our friend Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit has a new column in USA Today:
See something? DO something!To Americans who remember Sept. 11, 2001, this kind of response — even down to the “let’s go” — echoes the story of Todd Beamer and the passengers of Flight 93. It’s the right response, of course, to terrorists who threaten innocents.As Brad Todd wrote days after 9/11, it was the response of ordinary Americans on this flight that meant a repeat of the attacks was much less likely: “Just 109 minutes after a new form of terrorism — the most deadly yet invented — came into use, it was rendered, if not obsolete, at least decidedly less effective. … United Flight 93 did not hit a building. It did not kill anyone on the ground. … Why? Because it had informed Americans on board who’d had 109 minutes to come up with a counteraction. And the next time a hijacker full of hate pulls the same stunt with a single knife, he’ll get the same treatment and meet the same result as those on United Flight 93. Dead, yes. Murderous, yes. But successful? No.”Meanwhile, the expensive global security establishment failed to stop 9/11, and — despite having the French-train gunman flagged as a possible jihadist— did nothing to stop this weekend’s attack. And that’s a lesson.
As Glenn would say, read the whole thing.
Featured image via YouTube.
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