WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has welcomed to the Oval Office the three young Americans who thwarted an attack on a Paris-bound passenger train last month.

Obama says the teamwork, courage and quick-thinking actions of the three averted "a real calamity."

The president says the three friends represent "the very best of America."

Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler have been widely lauded for their actions to stop the attack. They've already made appearances on late-night talk shows, been in a parade and earned France's highest honor from President Francois Hollande.

Obama says that in the future, "whatever they do, they're going to do it well."

The three subdued a man with ties to radical Islam who boarded the train with a Kalashnikov, a pistol and a box cutter.