Alek Skarlatos

Aleksander R. Skarlatos was raised in Oregon as the son of a Greek-immigrant father and an American-born mother, and became an Oregon Army National Guardsman specialist. Skarlatos rose to public prominence following the successful efforts he and two friends made to stop an attack by a gunman on a Paris-bound train in August of 2015. Skarlatos had recently returned from a deployment in Afghanistan at the time of the attack. He and his two friends subdued the would-be assailant, Skarlatos repeatedly hitting him with the muzzle of his gun until he lost consciousness. Following the attack, Skarlatos received recognition from elected officials and the public all over the world. French president François Hollande awarded him the Knight of the Legion of Honor decoration, which is France's highest. He was praised by British Prime Minister David Cameron, and received a personal phone call from President of the United States Barack Obama. The mayor of Sacramento, California honored the three men along with the victims on the September 11th attacks, in a parade on September 11, 2015. Skarlatos was then chosen as a competitor on the 21st season of "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC 2005), a dance competition series. Skarlatos claimed he was inspired to join the show's cast by another combat veteran who had been on the show previously. Skarlatos was also a student at Umpqua Community College, but was at rehearsal for "Dancing with the Stars" on October 1, 2015, when a gunman opened fire on campus, killing 9 people and injuring 9 others.