{"id":6892,"date":"2015-09-18T08:02:46","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T15:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/obama-trio-who-thwarted-train-attack-are-best-of-america\/"},"modified":"2015-09-18T08:02:46","modified_gmt":"2015-09-18T15:02:46","slug":"obama-trio-who-thwarted-train-attack-are-best-of-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/obama-trio-who-thwarted-train-attack-are-best-of-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama: Trio who thwarted train attack are ‘best of America’"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON<\/strong> \u2014 This time, they suited up.<\/p>\n

The three young Americans who thwarted a gunman on a Paris-bound passenger train last month got their moment in the Oval Office on Thursday \u2014 and they dressed for it.<\/p>\n

President Barack Obama praised Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler for teamwork, courage and quick-thinking actions that averted \u201ca real calamity.\u201d<\/p>\n

He celebrated them as three friends who had been headed for a fun reunion in Paris when they \u201cended up engaging a potential catastrophic situation and pinning down someone who clearly was intent on doing a lot of harm to a lot of people, inflicting terror on the French people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three sat attentively on an Oval Office couch and chair as Obama praised them as \u201cthe very best of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

They previously had been awarded France\u2019s highest honor by President Francois Hollande. They showed up for that hastily scheduled ceremony at the ornate Elysee Palace a little underdressed, in polo shirts and khakis.<\/p>\n

This time, Oregon National Guardsman Skarlatos and Airman 1st Class Stone were in military uniform, and Sadler, a senior at Sacramento State University, wore a sport coat and open-collared dress shirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s these kinds of young people who make me extraordinarily optimistic about the future,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n

The three last month subdued a man with ties to radical Islam who boarded the train with a Kalashnikov rifle, a pistol and a box cutter. <\/p>\n

A British businessman and a French-American also have been praised for their efforts to stop the gunman.<\/p>\n

As for what the future holds, Obama said Stone, whose hand was injured in the attack, is \u201cmaking real progress\u201d and intends to pursue work in medicine, Sadler is studying sports medicine and therapy, and Skarlatos, \u201cas soon as he\u2019s finished on \u2018Dancing with the Stars,\u2019 plans to get into law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever they do,\u201d the president added, \u201cthey\u2019re going to do it well.\u201d<\/p>\n

After visiting the White House, the three were off to the Pentagon to pick up more honors.<\/p>\n

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James presented Stone with the Purple Heart in recognition of the injuries he suffered, and he also received the Airman\u2019s Medal. Skarlatos was awarded the Soldier\u2019s Medal, and Sadler was given the Secretary of Defense\u2019s Medal of Valor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen some took cover and ran, when others were unsure what to do, these three friends said, \u2018Let\u2019s go,\u2019\u201d Defense Secretary Ash Carter said.<\/p>\n

Carter said their rallying cry recalled the stirring words of those aboard the hijacked airliner on 9\/11 who shouted, \u201cLet\u2019s roll,\u201d before charging the cockpit and forcing the plane to crash in a Pennsylvania field before it could reach its intended target.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a head-snapping month for the three twenty-somethings since their quick actions on the train transformed them into instant celebrities.<\/p>\n

In addition to their official honors, the three have appeared in a California parade, Sadler had a turn on \u201cThe Tonight Show\u201d with Jimmy Fallon, and Skarlatos is \u201cDWTS\u201d material on ABC.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP National Security Writer Robert Bob Burns contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow Benac on Twitter at http:\/\/twitter.com\/nbenac<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 This time, they suited up. The three young Americans who thwarted a gunman on a Paris-bound passenger train last month got their moment in the Oval Office on Thursday \u2014 and they dressed for it. President Barack Obama praised Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler for teamwork, courage and quick-thinking actions that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":6893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-6892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6892"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}