The father of Spc. Alek Skarlatos says he was working in the yard when he received news that his 22-year-old son, who had recently completed a deployment to Afghanistan, had helped take down a gunman on a Paris-bound train. Alek described the encounter to his father — a 65-year-old Greek immigrant who came to the U.S. at the age of four — in a phone call from a French police station. “I’m so proud of (my son). I mean I’m in awe,” said Emanuel Skarlatos. He choked up and there was a long pause. Then he added, “He inspires me.”

According to The New York Times, Mr. Skarlatos lives in Oregon, where he graduated from Roseburg High School and has been a member of the Oregon Army National Guard for three years. He had returned home in July after a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan, and then left for Europe on Aug. 11, his family told The Oregonian newspaper.

In Amsterdam, he met up with Airman First Class Spencer Stone, 23, who is stationed in the Azores Islands near Portugal, and who, like Mr. Skarlatos, is originally from Carmichael, Calif., and Anthony Sadler, 23, a college student in Sacramento. The three, friends from their middle-school days, embarked this month on a tour of Europe with stops in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain. They had planned to stay another day in Amsterdam, but decided instead to take a Friday train to Paris.

Their trip was interrupted when a gunman boarded the high-speed train headed from Amsterdam to Paris, prepared to wreak havoc.

Mr. Skarlatos had planned to visit Greece and Germany before returning home to Oregon on Sept. 9, his father said.

According to Mr. Sadler’s mother, the three American men are scheduled to have dinner with the French president, François Hollande, on Monday.

Karen Skarlatos, Alek’s stepmother, said the family was “very proud.”

“I’ve always said that I felt I could trust putting my life in Alek’s hands,” Ms. Skarlatos said, according to The Oregonian. “I honestly can’t say I’m surprised that he knew what to do when faced with that kind of situation. It’s just who he is.”

Source: hellenext.org

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