... and one older Brit.
What you did so selflessly, courageously, and without being asked - with no thought to your personal danger - saved the lives of dozens if not hundreds of innocent victims.
Your country thanks you, Europe thanks you, the World thanks you.
I thank you.
I, too, thank you guys for your selfless duty.
Here, Here!! The world should certainly be thankful that individuals as they still exist.
And I will add my thank yous, too, although Nigel covered that very well. I can only imagine the "what if.......".
Don't forget the first man, a Franco-american banker, 28, known only as Damien,who is keeping his identity unknown, who threw himself on the terrorist tackling him as the shooter came out of the toilet armed. He was all by himself. He had heard metalic sounds and was concerned. Don't forget the Sorbonne professor, also an American, who grabbed the AK 47 and was running away with it when the terrorist pulled the pistol and shot the bullet that went through him. Those two are hospitalized. So let's thank them along with the Franco-British gentleman and the three great guys, luckily trained and ready.
Keith, Please explain his role as the driver. It says he and a Michel Bruet will also be rewarded. What were their roles? Indeed, not much has been published about these two, though I heard one conductor evacuated passengers to a car further away. We also saw on the French news that people in other cars were unaware of what had happened and wondered why the train was stopping in Arras.
I most definitely agree, this was an outstanding and courageous intervention by all involved, and the accolades are well deserved. In news reports here, only the three Americans and the British citizen are named so I wasn't aware of the others mentioned in this Thread. They are all heroes and I shudder to think what would have happened if the attack had gone as planned.
The excuse offered by the "evil doer" that he found the weapons in a park and was only planning to rob the train provided a good chuckle (especially as he was on a terror watch list, and had been tracked for months). I'm surprised his Lawyer can mention that in news reports without breaking into a loud, knee slapping guffaw!
Just a great story, and tragedy was largely averted. I was interested that France awarded the Legion of Honor to the men, so had to read up on that a bit. A nice bit of solidarity for all the countries involved. What is a little disconcerting is that I've heard and read a couple media reports stating that the suspect was "on the radar" of authorities. Not to hammer on those authorities with the task they have before them, but I have to guess that this is a euphemism for 'we know who that is'.
On the radar, generally seems to be translated as someone we think is capable of something but has not yet crossed the line from legal to illegal.
Given the amount of ammunition, given that one of the passengers was shot, lives were saved by the actions of the men rewarded today and awaiting their award.
Dave,
"What is a little disconcerting is that I've heard and read a couple media reports stating that the suspect was "on the radar" of authorities. "
I've only heard a few scant details on that, but from what I can gather he was a "person of interest" at a fairly low level on the radar. The authorities had tracked him from Turkey to Spain to Belgium and the French had also apparently been notified. They may have felt he was a low level threat and not likely to commit an attack. Part of the problem is that the authorities simply don't have enough personnel and resources to monitor every "person of interest", something which can be enormously expensive.
I think I heard on PBS that the "radar" has 5,000 blips on it at least. It's a really tough job and I hope that eventually we get to the root causes of this terrorism--granted it may take decades, but let's hope it's not centuries.
And indeed much thanks to all the caring people who acted so selflessly.
It was very courageous of everyone who helped subdue him. He kept pulling out weapons, so it took some bravery to intervene even after the two Americans had him tackled and one of his guns pulled away.
Those men saved a lot of lives.
FYI, Eric Tanty was interviewed on the France 2 news today. He is a driver but was riding as a passenger. The shooter entered the car, pointed the AK at him but it jammed. This must be when the professor ripped the AK away from the terrorist and ran down the aisle of the car, only to be shot with a pistol. Then the three guys, Mr. Tanty and Mr. Norman intervened.
