Belgian Train Incident

Belgian Train Incident

3500
Spencer Stone (left), Anthony Sadler (middle), Alek Skarlatos answer questions from the press at the U.S Embassy. Photo courtesy Google Images.

By Melissa Maas/Gator Galaxy Staff

Taking action in a dangerous situation is something some don’t always have the courage to do. Others don’t even think twice.

On Aug. 21, on a train en route from Amsterdam to France, three Americans, U.S. Airman Spencer Stone, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos, recently back from Afghanistan, and civilian Anthony Sadler courageously stopped Islamic Extremist and shooter Ayoub el-Khazani from a possible deadly attack.

North Star senior Simon Holloway strongly believes the three Americans are heroes for what they did. “I have been in circumstances that could have escalated to fights where I had to get involved, but obviously not like this,” said Holloway. It’s not quite as severe as this act of terrorism, but a similar situation.”If Americans can stop this kind of situation in a European country, we can surely stop it here at home,” said Holloway.

AP World History teacher Al Bock believes we are all unsafe in some way at times, but we are lucky to be in a safe environment like North Star. “It was great to see people do the right thing,” said Bock. Bock later said that if we want to combat terrorism, doing the right thing has to be a major factor. “It doesn’t matter if they were Americans or not, what matters is they did the right thing. It took guts,” said Bock.

Stone was the only one injured from the fight to take down el-Khazani. Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel has claimed the train incident a “terrorist attack.” The three Americans were awarded with France’s highest honor by French President Francois Hollande at Elysee Palace in Paris which made them Knights of the Legion of Honor on Monday, Aug. 31.

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

All Gator Galaxy Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Activate Search
Belgian Train Incident