Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone will be nominated for the Air Force’s highest non-combat award for his actions to subdue a gunman aboard an Amsterdam-to-Paris train, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James announced on Monday.
“Last Friday, as you know, evil arrived in the form of a heavily armed gunman on a high speed passenger train in Europe,” James told reporters at the semiannual State of the Air Force briefing. “A gunman who brandished an AK-47, hundreds of bullets, a Luger pistol and a box cutter.
“What the gunman didn’t expect; however, was a confrontation with our very ‘Captain America,’ and believe it or not, that is what Airman Stone’s friends nicknamed him during Air Force technical training.”
Stone was one of three vacationing Americans who helped overpower, subdue and hogtie the gunman. His unit has nominated him for the Airman’s Medal, James said.
France honored the three — Stone, from the 65th Air Base Group at Lajes Field, Azores; Army Spc. Alek Skarlatos, of the Oregon National Guard; and their friend Anthony Sadler — with its Legion of Honor on Monday.
“Airman Stone and his friends personified service before self, no question about it,” James said. “Their fearlessness, courage and selflessness should inspire all of us, and, thanks to them, no one died on that high speed European train on Friday.”
Because Stone’s bravery is not considered a combat action, he is not eligible for other U.S. military valor awards, such as the Bronze Star with “V” device and Silver Star, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said at Monday’s briefing. “For a non-combat award, this is the highest that we can give to an airman who puts his life at risk to help or save another,” Welsh said.
But the general left open the possibility of a higher award. “We are looking at the potential, if this is characterized by the law enforcement in France as a terrorist-related event, we will look at the precedent established in the Fort Hood incident to look at whether we can award the Purple Heart as well,” Welsh said.
If approved for the Airman’s Medal, Stone would be the second airman to receive the award this year. Staff Sgt. Greggory Swarz, a maintainer based at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, received the Airman’s Medal for saving three French aviators from a terrible fire resulting from a plane crash in Spain.
The Airman’s Medal is known colloquially as “the non-combat Medal of Honor” because it recognizes airmen who risk their lives while not in action against an armed enemy, said Doug Sterner, curator of the Military Times Hall of Valor.
“It’s strictly a valor award,” Sterner said in June. “The only thing that distinguishes it from the Silver Star is that the Silver Star is a valor award for combat. It is the fourth highest solely valor award.”
The victims of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting were able to receive Purple Hearts after the Defense Authorization Act of 2015 extended the award’s eligibility to soldiers killed or wounded in attacks by foreign terrorist organizations.
Because Stone was not in uniform and not on duty at the time of the incident, awarding him the Purple Heart will be a difficult task, Sterner said on Tuesday.
Since Purple Hearts are only awarded for combat actions, if he receives the award, it may set a precedent that would allow him to be considered other combat awards, such as the Bronze Star with “V” device, Sterner told Air Force Times.
