VCU alum awarded Legion of Honor medal

AP Newswire

The president of France pinned his country’s highest award, the Legion d’Honneur, on three Americans and a Briton on Monday, saying they “gave a lesson in courage” by subduing a heavily armed attacker on a high-speed train carrying 500 passengers to Paris.

President Francois Hollande said that while two of the Americans who tackled the gunman were soldiers, “on Friday you were simply passengers. You behaved as soldiers but also as responsible men.”

One of the men who helped to foil the train attack and earned the award was Mark Moogalian who is a 1988 VCU graduate and a Midlothian, Virginia native. He earned a Bachelors of Science in psychology.

Hollande pinned the medals on U.S. Airman Spencer Stone, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos, and their longtime friend Anthony Sadler. All took part in subduing the gunman as he moved through the Amsterdam-to-Paris train with an assault rifle strapped to his bare chest. British businessman Chris Norman, who jumped into the fray, also received the medal.

The Americans looked earnest and slightly overwhelmed — and a little under-dressed — for the unanticipated event in the ornate Elysee Palace. Their short-sleeved polo shirts and khakis contrasted with the gilded and velvet-curtained ceremonial hall as Hollande read out their names one by one — and kissed them on each cheek, in French style.

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