Americans on French Train Stop Terrorist

[AGBF]

Now this is something Americans should be proud of...even if we cannot actually take any of the merit for the actions of the men who bravely stopped the heavily armed terrorist. They were two of our citizens. They were alert. They were brave. They stopped bloodshed.

Link...http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/world/europe/americans-recount-gunmans-attack-on-train-to-france.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Deb/AGBF

 

[LLJsmom]

My husband told me about this and I felt so proud and not at all surprised. I mean seriously. We have been through 9/11. Americans are thinking "yeah, we are NOT going down like this".

 

[AGBF]

My husband told me about this and I felt so proud and not at all surprised. I mean seriously. We have been through 9/11. Americans are thinking "yeah, we are NOT going down like this".

Yes. I thought of Flight 93.

Link to Flight 93 memorial site (National Park Service)...http://www.nps.gov/flni/index.htm

AGBF

 

[VRBeauty]

Now this is something Americans should be proud of...even if we cannot actually take any of the merit for the actions of the men who bravely stopped the heavily armed terrorist. They were two of our citizens. They were alert. They were brave. They stopped bloodshed.

Deb/AGBF

Not just U.S. citizens, but American-trained soldiers. Bravo to them for sure!

 

[arkieb1]

I agree I think these days a lot of trained and non trained men and women too are all thinking that they would rather go down fighting than not at all. Bravo to them.

 

[missy]

My husband told me about this and I felt so proud and not at all surprised. I mean seriously. We have been through 9/11. Americans are thinking "yeah, we are NOT going down like this".

Americans rock! Tough and brave and smart.

 

[tyty333]

Thanks for posting AGBF! These guys showed amazing bravery! I couldn't feel prouder of our military!

 

[Mayk]

Big Puffy Heart the U.S. Military! Home of the Free Because Of The Brave!

 

[stracci2000]

I love military, police, firefighters and EMTs!

 

[Calliecake]

My husband told me about this and I felt so proud and not at all surprised. I mean seriously. We have been through 9/11. Americans are thinking "yeah, we are NOT going down like this".

Americans rock! Tough and brave and smart.

It really makes you proud to be an American. What an awesome group of guys were on that train. I hope they know how proud of them all American's are. You are so correct LLJsmom. 9/11 opened everyone's eyes. I can't imagine anyone not fighting back anymore. I wear spiked high heels on the plane. I figure it could be used as a weapon by some strong guy if needed since I am not big enough to do any real damage.

 

[Harpertoo]

I live in EU and was in Lyon, FR yesterday and saw the news on a screen at a café. I didn't realize the heros were American I was more shocked because we frequently take a high speed train to Paris....Anyway it made me feel so good this am when I read the NYTs and learned the story. It's sort of rare I feel overy proud to be American, but I felt such gratitude those men were on that train.

 

[VRBeauty]

Not only that, but they're all from my city (and DF's, too)!

 

[chemgirl]

Was so happy to see you hat people jumped in to prevent what could have been a terrible tragedy.

I didn't like seeing the coverage on Good Morning America this morning that basically made it sound like lax security allowed this to happen. Newscaster person was going on about how you can walk on a train I Europe without passing through a metal detector or showing a passport. Well there isn't passport control between Schengen countries and it certainly isn't the norm worldwide to have metal detectors for trains. Frustrating.

 

[AGBF]

Was so happy to see you hat people jumped in to prevent what could have been a terrible tragedy.

I didn't like seeing the coverage on Good Morning America this morning that basically made it sound like lax security allowed this to happen. Newscaster person was going on about how you can walk on a train I Europe without passing through a metal detector or showing a passport. Well there isn't passport control between Schengen countries and it certainly isn't the norm worldwide to have metal detectors for trains. Frustrating.

I hear you. And there was a huge measure of luck involved that no one was killed. I heard this from Alek Skarlatos, one of the first two men to jump on the terrorist. He said this while being interviewed early on, while Spencer Stone was undergoing surgery. Apparently the terrorist's automatic weapon jammed and he also did not know how to reload his own handgun. Had the terrorist been better prepared, Mr. Skarlatos said there would have been more loss of life. And what if there had been two terrorists?

I applaud the reaction of fighting back, but people are not supermen. We cannot safeguard against everything. We can only do the best we can. Maybe that means raising awareness that people fight back against terrorists if they encounter them.

Deb/AGBF

 

[Rockinruby]

So thankful that there was no loss of life. Bravo to the brave people who stopped this person from hurting others.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Not only that, but they're all from my city (and DF's, too)!

Yup, hometown heros ...

 

[AGBF]

Today France conferred its highest honor, The Legion of Honor, on the three Americans and one Briton credited with stopped the terrorist attack. A video of part of the ceremony is linked below.

From The Élysée Palace Ceremony...http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/world/europe/france-train-attack-legion-of-honor.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

AGBF

 

[diamondseeker2006]

These men deserve the title of "hero"!!!! I am just so proud of them and thankful that good won out over evil this time!

 

[MarionC]

I've been trying to imagine how I would feel about those guys now if I had been on that train with my child... I would honor them for the rest of my life. The people on that train were very very lucky! I only read in a few places that the first responder was French. That makes me happy for the French. I am proud of all these men. Good & brave people.

 

[missy]

I've been trying to imagine how I would feel about those guys now if I had been on that train with my child... I would honor them for the rest of my life. The people on that train were very very lucky! I only read in a few places that the first responder was French. That makes me happy for the French. I am proud of all these men. Good & brave people.

Here you go Jimmianne. That young man also received the Légion d’honneur so no worries there. No one is getting overlooked. They are all very brave men and without them who knows how many lives would have been lost that day. Thank goodness those Americans were there because if not it would have been a very different outcome. Such a scary world we live in where lives mean so little to some people.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11819824/France-train-attack-Mark-Moogalian-named-as-French-hero-who-foiled-attack-by-Moroccan-terrorist-Ayoub-El-Khazzani-live.html