Three Marines who were credited with stopping a stabbing at a Virginia Chick-fil-A were given awards by the Marine Corps on Thursday, the service announced.
Cpl. John Darby, Cpl. Bradley Feldkamp and Lance Cpl. Nicholas Dural all received the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for their actions during a fight at a Chick-fil-A south of Quantico, Virginia, spokesman Gunnery Sgt. Matthew Bragg told Military.com in an email.
The trio were students at the Marine Security Group school -- a course designed to prepare them to act as security at U.S. embassies around the world. They stepped in after two teenagers approached a customer at the fast food chicken restaurant around 2 p.m. Sunday and an argument and physical altercation ensued, according to a press release from the Stafford County Sheriff's Department.
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"[The school] is extremely proud of the heroic actions of Cpl. Darby, Cpl. Feldkamp, and Lance Cpl. Dural," Bragg said in his statement, adding that the "school takes pride in teaching Marines how to respond to different situations, how to effectively communicate, and how to be resilient, and that's exactly what these Marines did."
The two male teenagers assaulted the victim at the restaurant and then one of them pulled out a knife, the sheriff's office said.
That's when the trio of Marines jumped into action and tried to break up the fight.
"One of them broke the knife in half to prevent further harm, and the two suspects quickly fled," the sheriff's office said.
The pair of assailants managed to make off with the customer's phone, but they were later arrested and charged with assault, robbery and other charges.
The sheriff's office thanked "the hero Marines who stepped up in order to protect the victim," before adding that "without you, this altercation could have been a lot worse."
Bragg said that Darby and Feldkamp both departed early Thursday to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, while Dural will leave early next week for the embassy in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.
-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.
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