l-r: Chris Norman, Anthony Sadler, French President Francois Hollande, Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos
The French are enthralled by the three Americans who acted so swiftly to stop the Thalys gunman. In their news conference Sunday afternoon at the US embassy in Paris, they came over as archetypes of American masculine virtue: handsome, strong, modest.
Deep in the French gene, there is something that responds positively to this. It is the same spirit that is so grateful - 70 years on - for the American sacrifice in the Normandy landings: a recognition of the American capacity to join moral clarity with swift, decisive action.
Recognition, but also not a little envy. The press has made much of the fact that while the three Americans - and their ally the British businessman Chris Norman - have been feted with news conferences and all the rigmarole of instant fame, the Frenchman who also played a heroic part has preferred to remain anonymous.
It is a source of national pride - and a relief - that it was not just les Anglo-Saxons who "had a go".
~~~I too have been enthralled by the bravery of those who resisted the Thalys train attacker and I have been avidly following the news about them.
Their courage reminds me of the numerous young men who surrendered their lives on the beaches of Normandy, France. We were just there and I was touched by the sight of the rows and rows of burial markers.In my blog about that visit, I had asked: "Were they (the men who died) fearful? Were they brave? And how would I have behaved under the same circumstances?"
I did not have the answers then, and neither do I now.
The question of how we should react if confronted by an attacker like the one in the Thalys train is one that is being looked at now.
The brave men in that train may have given us the answer.
Photos from Twitter; last photo is mine.
Read also
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- Rain in Rouen and Sunshine in Honfleur
- Coming Up Normandy, Brittany, and Paris, France
- My Love Affair with France
Tags: Thalys train, France train attack, Americans train attack, terrorist, #trainattack
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