Their courage has already earned them many honors, including the Legion of Honor from President François Hollande. It even inspired Clint Eastwood to make it into a film, “The 15:17 to Paris.”

Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler, the three American heroes of the Thalys train attempted terrorist attack, will become French during a naturalization ceremony on Thursday, January 31, at the Alliance Française in Sacramento. The French Consul in San Francisco Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens and Guy Michelier, Honorary Consul of France in Sacramento, will participate in the ceremony.

In August 2015, the three friends from in and around Sacramento, with the help of two others, neutralized a terrorist on a Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris, averting mass carnage. The terrorist was armed with an assault rifle, ammunition, a pistol, a box-cutter, and a can of gasoline. The three Americans, two of whom are two military personnel, were on vacation in Europe at the time. They rushed the terrorist when he arrived in their car and were able to tackle and immobilize him, when miraculously, the assault rifle jammed. Four people were injured during the attack, including the terrorist.