Three US citizens and a Briton are being awarded France's highest honor following the French train attack on Friday where they helped disarm a gunman terrorizing passengers on a train from Amsterdam to Paris, according to Euronews.
The four heroes have been identified as Spencer Stone, 23; Antony Sadler, 23; Alek Skarlatos, 22; and Chris Norman, 62. They have been awarded the Legion d'Honneur by French President Francois Hollande on Monday, August 24, for their bravery.
The French train attack took place Friday. Stone was awoken by the words "LET'S go!" while on the high-speed train heading for Paris. The off-duty officer was in Europe with his childhood friends, Sadler, who is a university student, and Skarlatos, a National Guardsman. Stone was vacationing with his friends following his return from Afghanistan when the French train attack occurred.
The gunman, who is being called a terrorist, boarded the train during a stop at Brussels. The gunman, identified as Moroccan national Ayoub El Kahzani, 26, came out from the toilet loaded with weapons. El Kahzani is adamant that he is not a terrorist.
However, the public refuses to believe his claims as the Moroccan emerged from the toilet carrying an assault rifle, an automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a boxcutter. The 26-year-old suspect on the French train attack pushed aside a train conductor and another man while making his way to the carriage.
Seeing the weapons, the conductor went to the opposite direction and barricaded himself in a room together with six other passengers. French actor Jean-Hughes Anglade, who was on board with his children, triggered the emergency alarm by breaking the glass. He then positioned his body over his children. He reportedly injured his hand in the process of setting the alarm.
A French man tried to stop the French train attack by overpowering Kahzani before the gunman fired shots, which wounded a traveller who was in his 50s, according to Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
During that time, Stone, Sadler and Skarlatos were in carriage 12. They were alerted of the incident after hearing the gunshots. They said that they didn't know the sounds were gunshots until they saw the gunman.
"I saw what looked like an AK47, and (it) looked like (it) was jammed or it wasn't working, he was trying to discharge the weapon, and Alek just hit me on the shoulder and said 'let's go'," said Stone.
Stone said he grabbed the opportunity of stopping the gunman as he ran 10m down the aisle and tackled the gunman to the ground, with his friends helping him.
"Alek came up and grabbed the gun out of his hand, while I put him in a chokehold, it seemed like he kept pulling more weapons out left and right," Stone added. "He pulled out a handgun, Alek took that, he took out a boxcutter, started jabbing at me with that, we let go, all three of us started punching him while he was in the middle of us."
"I was able to grab him again, and choke him unconscious while Alek was hitting him in the head with the pistol or rifle," Stone continued.
British grandfather Chris Norman, 62, rushed to the Americans' aid and subdued the gunman.
"We've seen enough of these kinds of attacks to understand that they will kill everybody once they get started," said Norman. "My thought was, 'OK, I'm probably going to die anyway, so let's go.' I'd rather die being active, trying to get him down, than simply sit in the corner and be shot."
The four men beat Kahzani unconscious, after which they hogtied him until authorities arrived. Fortunately, the gunman was not able to fire his automatic weapon during the French train attack, however, one man was shot and Stone was injured with the boxcutter.
Stone needed surgery for his injured hand. He also suffered neck and head cuts, almost severing his eye. In spite of those injuries during the French train attack, he was also able to help a French-American schoolteacher shot in the neck. Stone reportedly stopped bloodflow in the neck, which saved the man's life.
Kahzani is already known to Spain, France and Belgium's intelligence services for his radical Islamic beliefs. However, his lawyer, Sophie David, who is no longer representing him, said that Kahzani described himself simply as a homeless man who found the weapons and wanted to use them for robbery.
"He says that by chance he found a suitcase with a weapon, with a telephone, hidden away," said David.
Khazzani is now being questioned by counter terrorism officers in Levallois Perret, which is near Paris.
On Saturday, the four men who stopped the French train attack appeared at a media conference after Stone's release from hospital.
According to news.com.au, apart from the Legion d'Honneur award from France's president, the four Americans has been called by US President Barack Obama to commend their heroism.
Watch an ABC News report of the Americans sharing their story on the French train attack and how they stopped the gunman.
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