Paris Field Office

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Lore & Background

Davis studied political science at Southern University at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on a Reserve Officers' Training Corps scholarship. He was commissioned as a Reserve Component officer on 1 June 1959, and earned Airborne and Ranger qualifications in 1960, and Special Forces qualification in 1962. His initial overseas tours included South Korea, South Vietnam (1962–1963) and Okinawa, Japan. Davis arrived for his second tour in South Vietnam in April 1965 and took command of the 5th Special Forces Groups Team A-321 at Camp Bồng Sơn, Bình Định Province, II Corps. On 18 June 1965, Davis and three of his Special Forces team led the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 883rd Regional Forces Company in an attack on a Viet Cong (VC) base. Davis received the Silver Star and the Purple Heart for his efforts in this action. Davis served a third tour in Vietnam in 1969, and later commanded the 10th Special Forces Group and retired from the army as a colonel in 1985.

In Their Own Story

On 18 June 1965, Davis and his team had just finished a successful raid on a Viet Cong Regimental Headquarters, killing upwards of one hundred of the enemy. As dawn broke, Davis caught up to the lead platoon and got them organized, but they were hit by automatic machine gun fire. Davis was hit in the hand by a fragment from a hand grenade. He moved the platoon back towards the main body, only to find the enemy had the company pinned down in an open field with automatic weapons and mortar fire. Davis ran up and down the line, encouraging the 883rd Company to return fire. He killed five Viet Cong coming over a trench line, then ran to the left flank and killed four more with a grenade. When his M16 jammed, he shot one with his pistol and hit another with his M16 again and again until he was dead. Despite being shot in the back of his leg and later in the wrist, Davis ran out multiple times under intense fire to pull wounded comrades to safety, including carrying MSG Billy Waugh fireman style in a hail of automatic weapon fire. He refused to leave until all Americans were extracted, and the fighting continued until mid-afternoon. Davis was able to go out and get SP-1 Brown who lay out in the middle of the field some fourteen hours from the start until the close of the battle.

Reader's Guide

Davis was nominated for the Medal of Honor in 1965; however, the Army lost the nomination. In 1969 an inquiry was ordered and it found no record of the original nomination. The nomination was resubmitted and lost again. It has been suggested that racism was a factor, given that Davis is African-American. In January 2021 then-Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller ordered an expedited review of the lost nomination, to be completed by March 2021. In a June 2021 editorial Miller wrote that the military bureaucracy was again stalling the review and urged President Joe Biden to award Davis the Medal of Honor. In November 2022 it was reported that the nomination had been approved by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and was awaiting approval by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. On 14 February 2023, it was confirmed that Davis would finally receive the Medal of Honor. On 3 March 2023, Davis finally received the Medal of Honor 58 years after he was first nominated for it, the third nomination having the direct support and involvement of two different Secretaries of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the President of the United States. President Joe Biden presented the Medal of Honor to Davis personally in a ceremony at the White House.

Did You Know?

• Davis was originally awarded the Silver Star for his actions on 18 June 1965, before finally receiving the Medal of Honor 58 years later.
• The time from Davis's first Medal of Honor nomination to the completion of a successful third nomination spanned 58 years.
• Davis published the Metro Herald newspaper in Virginia for 30 years after retiring from the Army.

The Real-Life Heroes Behind the Screen

Often found in the principal's office for disciplinary issues involving their shared interest in firearms, they formed an unlikely trio that would eventually face life-or-death circumstances. Their paths diverged into military service; Stone enlisted in the Air Force aiming to become a Pararescueman but was redirected due to poor depth perception, while Skarlatos served in the National Guard with deployments to Afghanistan. Sadler pursued higher education as a college student. The narrative traces their journey from these disparate lives to a fateful European vacation where they reunited in Germany before traveling through Amsterdam and finally boarding the Thalys train to Paris. It was on this specific route that their friendship was tested, transforming them from ordinary travelers into international heroes who actively intervened during a terrorist attack.

The Unfolding of the Train Attack

The film meticulously dramatizes the terrifying sequence of events aboard the high-speed train traveling between Amsterdam and Paris. As panic spread and passengers fled toward the front cars, the terrorist moved into the carriage occupied by Stone and his friends. In a moment of desperate instinct, Stone sprinted toward the gunman, risking everything to subdue him. Miraculously, the terrorist's assault rifle misfired as he pulled the trigger, an event later estimated to have odds less than one in a thousand. Seizing this narrow window, Stone tackled the attacker, and Skarlatos and Sadler immediately joined the effort. Together, they overwhelmed the gunman, with Stone ultimately applying a chokehold to knock him unconscious while simultaneously using his fingers to stem Moogalian's bleeding until paramedics arrived.

A Unique Production Approach

This choice aimed to authentically capture their childhood friendship and the specific emotional arc leading up to the attack.

Reception and Global Recognition

Despite its commercial underperformance, the real-life events depicted in the movie garnered immense official recognition for the three men. The officials awarded the trio the prestigious Legion of Honour for their extraordinary bravery and quick thinking under fire. The story concluded with a celebratory parade in their hometown of Sacramento, cementing their status as American heroes who prevented a potential tragedy through sheer courage and the unlikely luck of a weapon malfunction.