(AFP) Three Americans hailed as heroes for thwarting a jihadist attack on a train between Amsterdam and Paris were officially welcomed as French citizens on Thursday in a ceremony in the US state of California.
Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone, all aged 26, “risked their lives for the values of the republic,” Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens, the French consul general in San Francisco, said at the ceremony in Sacramento.
While on vacation in Europe, the trio took action on August 21, 2015, to prevent a bloodbath on the high-speed Thalys train, tackling a man who opened fire on travelers.
The gunman, identified as Moroccan national Ayoub El Khazzani, was armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a pistol and a box cutter.
