Thank You Alex, Anthony, Spencer, Mark and Chris! Heroes Of The Day

As a proud American living in Paris, I just wanted to applaud and thank these very courageous men, Alex Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone, Mark Moogalian and Chris Norman, along with an anonymous Frenchman who all earned the highest medal of honor in France, the Légion d’Honneur.  

Their daring monumental tackling and subduing of the armed terrorist on the fast speed  Thalys train, heading towards Paris, without a doubt saved countless lives Friday evening.

French president Francois Holland awarded the three Americans and one Brit  this extremely prestigious French medal this morning at the Élysee Palace.  Mark, who was the first to try to wrestle the gun away from the terrorist remains hospitalised and he along with the anonymous Frenchman will receive their medals later.

Their courage is up and beyond the highest form of humanitarianism; risking your own life to save others.    I can only imagine the immense fear of being a passenger on that train, that probably would have paralysed many of us, yet these men acted so unselfishly without a second of thinking about just their own safety.

Heroism come from the French word héroïsme meaning extending exemplary courage and bravery for the greater good and welfare of others.   Despite their lion-hearted bravery, they all rejected the notion of being a hero; even more a reflection of their immense humility.

Their split second decision to put their lives in danger for the welfare of others was also spiritually magnificent, reflecting the immense benevolence these men displayed.  Their parents must be brimming with pride and at the same time relieved from what could have been massive blood shed.

Alex and Spencer, both being off duty American military, showed tremendous instantaneous control and securing skills  that one would encounter on the battlefield and they carried it off with such aplomb as if they had practiced doing the same before.

I would like to point out too, that Spencer Stone’s immediate life saving attention to  Mark, hemorrhaging from a carotid wound is a testimony to his obvious extensive training as an US military medic, stationed in the Azores.

Franco American Mark Moogalian’s wife upon hearing her husband yell “I’m hit” and noticing he was bleeding, had gone into another car crying out for a doctor, when Spencer rushed to him with immediate medical attention befitting a highly trained battlefield physician.

Instead of just applying external skin pressure, this young man acted liked a surgeon by inserting two fingers into the injured man’s neck and by feel alone, located his carotid artery which was spewing blood and applied pressure, shutting off the flow of blood.  Amazing and impressive medical intervention!

All of this while he was suffering painful cutting injuries to himself, including a dangling thumb, that necessitated having surgery to have nerves and tendons reattached.

The highly prestigious French medal of Legion d’ Honneur was inaugurated by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.  There are five degrees and it can be awarded to both military and civilians, with Napoléon refusing to create two different awards, saying there is only “one nation.”

Long before Napoleon, there were several royal degrees of honor that could be bestowed upon others from kings Louis XI and Louis XIV, that were done away by the French Revolution.   The Napoleonic medal was an adoption basically of the white cross from the Order of the Holy Spirit. .  It is  composed of five two pointed star rays with a green encircled wreath of bay on top.

This medal is extremely hard for a French civilian to obtain, because they must show at least 20 years of  meritorious behavior that has continuously been of benefit to the French nation.  It is awarded to several foreigners each year, who like our aforementioned recent heroes have demonstrated exemplary behavior beneficial to the welfare of France.

The first American to have been given the Legion d’Honneur was Thomas Wiltberger Evans, who was an American dentist living in Paris.   He had the distinction of working on Napoleon’s teeth and had helped Empress Eugenie escape Paris after the Battle of Sedan.

The year of 1946 was when the most medals were awarded a year after the end of World War II.  I suspect they went primarily to those involved in the French resistance and war heroes.

During the siege of Paris by the Nazis, there were many like the Russian Orthodox nun, Maria Skobtsova, recently canonised a saint who risked her life daily saving Jewish children from being sent to the concentration camps, only to end up dying in the gas chambers.

Alex, Anthony, Spencer, Mark and Chris demonstrated having the same thread of courageous valour and extreme bravery that could have cost them their lives.   I wished that I could have been in their cheering squad this morning!

After such a hair raising and dangerous entrance into France, that would twist the nerves of anybody, they certainly deserved all the honors awarded, which included a medal from the town of Arras, where the misfortunate train first stopped after the alarm was pulled by a famous French actor.

Knowing the generous grateful spirit of the French, I am certain they have been treated like royalty with all the  pomp and circumstance the French love to display.   It  looks like the American ambassador Janet Hartley also proudly took them  under American diplomatic wings here.

These brave young men, along with the thousands of Americans, who died on French soil during World War II have furthered the image of courageous Americans willing to take necessary risks in the face of imminent danger to protect others.

Alex, Anthony, Mark and Spencer are our most recent American heroes whose outstanding bravery on French soil will long be praised by ordinary citizens here, whose day to day life is now unfortunately being scrutinised for potential terrorist presence.

Even at mass yesterday in my parish church just down the street, the sacristan was circling around the whole church several times with a very watchful eye, much more than he usually does.  Only the main entrance is left open during services for the same reason, as churches have had to adapt vigipirate techniques in place as in other public places.

The European populace seems to have finally awakened to the reality that the thousands of covert jihadists may have returned and are amongst us; many under the radar of police surveillance.  The presumed terrorist of the Thalys train had been signaled as an Islamic extremist by Spanish and Belgium authorities and supposedly had just moved to France.

This latest event should increase police and military patrols in train stations, which is already in place, but hopefully some passenger and baggage screening as well will be implemented.   Since Schengen, European borders are very porous with little to no screening crossing borders, once inside the EU.

None of us is exempt from possible terrorist encounters as we travel the world on planes, trains, boats and buses, and this is again a reminder that our own safety as well as others depend on us collectively being more vigilant when we travel and in any public surroundings.

I have been for some time more visually alert to others in the subways, buses and when I board airplanes and will certainly do the same in trains.    Yes, even in church, though going to Notre Dame with the  massive amount of folks at any time walking through is daunting.

We all have to help the police by reporting suspicious activity, as they can not be everywhere.  Europe will continue to have these attacks as apparently these extremists are here and are not all are being followed closely enough to be preventative.

We can all hope that there are many more strong bodied gutsy guys out there like Alex, Anthony, Spencer, Mark and Chris who are ready to do what these magnificent men did, which is an inspiration to us all.

They more than earned their angel wings and stardom here in Paris and the world.  Bravo and bisous to all of them!