Spencer Stone is best recognized for being a real-life hero. Alongside a couple of his childhood friends Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler, Spencer was able to stop a gunman who was about to attack a train bound for Paris in August 2015. Stone’s action in preventing the attack made him an international hero earning him honors from both President who awarded him the Airman’s Medal and a Purple Heart and France’s Francois Hollande who honored him with the Legion of Honor, the highest French honor of merit. Many have since become increasingly interested in what goes on in Spencer Stone’s professional and private life which we will discuss below.
Spencer Stone’s Bio
On the 13th day of August 1992, Spencer Stone was born in a small town in Sacramento, California as the son of Brian and Joyce Stone. He was raised in Carmicheal, a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento. Stone was still a young boy when he met and became friends with both his future co-heroes Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler. The boys who share the same strong religious beliefs, as well as a mindset of dedication to the service of their nation, have since become inseparable.
The trio attended Freedom Christian School in Fair Oaks, California while Stone would later move to Del Campo High School still in Fair Oaks. In high school, Spencer Stones whom his mother says from childhood wanted to be in the military was highly active playing on the football and basketball teams.
His high school teacher and basketball coach Dave Nobis recalled post-fame that Spencer Stone cared about others in school and had a blue-collar attitude. Stone graduated from high school in 2012 and enlisted for the US Airforce shortly afterward. He served at Travis Air Force Base in California and was in 2015 promoted to the rank of senior airman thanks to his bold acts during an assignment in France.
Stone enrolled at the Airman Leadership School in January 2015 to learn the leadership skills of becoming a non-commissioned officer. It was in August 2015 while traveling on a European vacation trip with his best friends that the gunman incidence happened.
The men were aboard a Thalys train 9364 from Amsterdam bound to Paris via Brussels when a 25-year-old, Moroccan man, Ayoub El-Khazzani armed with an AKM assault rifle equipped with 270 rounds of ammunition launched an attack on passengers. Several people made failed attempts to stop the man before Stone attacked and disarmed him. El-Khazzani stabbed Stone in the neck and eyebrow and almost cut off his thumb with a box cutter. His friends intervened and the . On the other hand, El-Khazzani as of May 2018 was still in custody awaiting trial.
Ayoub El-Khazzani was later reported to have had ties with ISIS though he claimed that his attack wasn’t linked to any terror group but was a mere attempt to rob passengers of valuables.
In addition to the medals that Stone received from both America’s and France’s presidents, he was promoted to the rank of staff sergeant. In October of the same year, Stone faced another life-threatening incidence when a California man, James Tran stabbed him following an argument at a bar. Fortunately, he survived fatal injuries to his heart, lungs, and liver following an open-heart surgery at the University of California Davis Medical Center.
Investigative reports returned that Tran at the time was unaware of Stone’s publicity, thus the attack was not a means of revenge for the attack he prevented on the Thalys train. Tran was brought in and would later plead guilty after which he was sentenced on May 12, 2017, to 9 years in State prison.
Spencer Stone left the United States Air Force in November 2016 in order to focus on international relations. Stone intends to get an education in the field.
Acting Career
Spencer Stone’s fame as a hero has also attracted Hollywood, veteran actor and filmmaker, , to be precise. Following his departure from the Airforce, Stone and his friends made many public appearances and together with the help of the international journalist, Jeffrey E. Stern, penned their Thalys train incidence in a memoir titled, The 15:17 to Paris. The book was published in August 2016.
About a year later, Eastwood began making the book into a film of the same name with Stone as well as his friends playing themselves. The film was released on February 9, 2018. It remains unlikely that Stone would go on to pursue a full-time acting career.
Parents, Siblings
Spencer Stone was born to a father named Brian Stone and a mother named Joyce Eskel. Not much is known about his parents except that they are regular Americans living in Sacramento, California.
However, following the train incident, Spencer’s parents as with the parents of his friends did receive a bit of attention from the media. Stone’s dad Brian narrated on phone to NBC news how he was not surprised that his son had the guts to launch the first attack on the gunman. His reason was that he had known his son to be an agile person who wants a career as a fireman or paramedic after his time in the military.
Spencer Stone has two siblings who are both older than he is. They include a brother named Everett and a sister named Kelly. The Stones do have a thing for the force as his brother Everett works as a patrolman with the California Highway Patrol in Redwood City, California.
Height
Spencer Stone is a pretty tall young man standing at a height of 6 feet 2 inches and weighs 220 pounds. The international hero has blonde hair.
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