It seemed like an ordinary trip

At the time, Spencer Stone was 23 years old. He was traveling through Europe with his childhood friends Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler. On August 21, 2015, they were aboard Thalys train 9364, a high-speed train bound for Paris carrying 554 passengers.

It seemed like an ordinary trip.

Then a man emerged from a restroom carrying an AK-47.

Panic spread through the carriage. Some passengers hid under their seats. A French-American professor, Mark Moogalian, reacted immediately and tried to wrestle the weapon away from the attacker. During the struggle, he was shot.

The terrorist was armed not only with the rifle, but also with a handgun, a box cutter, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. The train was speeding through France, and there was nowhere to escape.

Spencer Stone did not have a plan.

He stood up and ran toward the gunman.

Alek Skarlatos followed him immediately. Anthony Sadler came right behind them. Moments later, they were joined by Chris Norman, a 62-year-old British businessman who had never met the three young men before that day.

A violent struggle began.

Stone was the first to reach the attacker and grapple with him. The man pulled out a box cutter and slashed Stone multiple times across the face, neck, and hands. One wound to the neck came dangerously close to being fatal. One of his thumbs was nearly severed. Blood quickly covered the floor of the train car.

But none of the four men let go.

After about ninety seconds, they managed to overpower the attacker, disarm him, and tie him up using belts and a necktie.

Only then did Spencer collapse.

He was losing a great deal of blood and struggling to remain conscious. A few feet away lay Mark Moogalian, critically wounded from the gunshot he had suffered at the beginning of the attack.

Despite his own injuries, Stone crawled over to him.

With one hand pressed against the wound on his neck and the other helping Moogalian, he tried to keep him alive until emergency responders arrived after the train made an emergency stop.

Doctors later said the wound to Stone’s neck had missed a fatal outcome by only a few millimeters.

Stone survived.

When he woke up after surgery, the first question he asked was not about himself.

He asked whether anyone had died.

The answer was no.

Three days later, in Paris, President François Hollande awarded Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler, and Chris Norman the Legion of Honour, France’s highest decoration. They were later received at the White House as well.

In the years that followed, Spencer Stone consistently downplayed his role, often saying that he had simply done what he believed was right in that moment.

But on August 21, 2015, aboard a high-speed train bound for Paris, a decision made in a matter of seconds helped prevent a tragedy that could have claimed hundreds of lives.