
Sequel to the show of gratitude by President Francois Hollande to the three Americand and one Briton who foiled a train terror attack, the French president has gone a step further by honouring the quartet with France's top honour.
Mr Hollande presented Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler and Briton Chris Norman with the Legion d'honneur at the Elysee Palace. Two other unnamed passengers will receive the honour at a later date.
The passengers overpowered a suspected radical Islamist on a high-speed train bound for Paris on Friday. Meanwhile, French authorities are questioning the suspect, Moroccan national Ayoub El-Khazzani, 25.
Mr Hollande pinned the medals on the chests of the four passengers at the ceremony in Paris on Monday morning.
Before the awards, he said: "We are here to honour four men who, thanks to their bravery, managed to save lives.
"In the name of France, I would like to thank you. The whole world admires your bravery. It should be an example to all of us and inspire us. You put your lives at risk in order to defend freedom."
Mr Hollande said: "A terrorist decided to commit an attack. He had enough weapons and ammunition to carry out real carnage, and that's what he would have done if you hadn't tackled him at a risk to your own lives.
"You gave us a lesson in courage, in will, and thus in hope."
He said: "Faced with the evil called terrorism there is a good, that is humanity. You are the incarnation of that."
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel and the US Ambassador to France, Jane Hartley, attended the ceremony, along with the head of the French rail firm, SNCF.
The Legion d'honneur was founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. The award is divided into five categories and the passengers are expected to receive the chevalier, the most commonly awarded.
A French-American passenger who was wounded in the attack, and a French citizen who first encountered the gunman and tried to overpower him, will receive the honour later.
Mr Hollande named the French-American as 51-year-old Mark Moogalian, who is still in hospital. The other man wishes to remain anonymous.
The president said he wished to pay tribute to both of them for their bravery.
The Americans spoke on Sunday about the incident.
Mr Stone, an off-duty US airman, said he had just woken from a deep sleep when he saw the gunman and moved to restrain him.
"I turned around and I saw he had what looked to be an AK-47 and it looked like it was jammed or wasn't working and he was trying to charge the weapon.
"Alek just hit me on the shoulder and said 'Let's go' and ran down, tackled him. We hit the ground."
Mr Stone was the first of the three to reach the gunman. He was cut in the neck and on the eyebrow, and his thumb was almost sliced off.