SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Three Americans who stopped a gunman on a Paris-bound passenger train talked about the significance of 9/11 on Friday at a festive parade hosted by their California hometown and in an interview to air on national television.
It was a rare appearance by all three childhood friends – U.S. Airman Spencer Stone, Oregon National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler – since their ordeal in August. They spoke to Megyn Kelly of Fox News’ “The Kelly File” before joining a “hometown heroes” parade hosted by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.
The men have become widely lauded figures and sudden celebrities, making appearances on late-night talk shows, receiving a congratulatory call from President Barack Obama and earning France’s highest honor from President Francois Hollande.
Kelly asked the trio whether they have a different appreciation of what happened 14 years ago when the twin towers fell Sept. 11, 2001.
“I feel so much more connected to terrorist attacks and things like that and victims of terrorist attacks,” said Skarlatos, 22, in an excerpt released before the interview airs Friday night. “That easily could have been us if any one of six or seven things went a different way.”