When an Australian paramedic couple holidaying in Paris heard gunfire then saw hundreds of people rush by in panic they knew their skills may be needed.
Within minutes Laura Mannes and William Harrison from Victoria's Mornington Peninsula had grabbed towels and bed linen from their hotel room and were busy stemming the blood of victims gunned down by Islamic State terrorists at a nearby restaurant.
The November 13 attacks across the city left 130 people dead and hundreds injured.
On Thursday, to the couple's surprise, Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove presented them with a governor-general's medallion each at the headquarters of the London Ambulance Service where they've been working for 18 months.
The pair were in Paris with the parents of Ms Mannes when the terror attacks unfolded as they headed out to dinner.
"Some shots rang out probably about 100 metres away from where we were standing ... a few hundred people, if not a thousand people, came running towards us in the street," Mr Harrison recalled on Thursday.
The 31-year-old said they went back into their hotel and grabbed towels and bed linen before he and Ms Mannes headed to where the shots had rung out.
They found a restaurant and a car had been shot up and many people were severely injured.
"We had three people that had been shot at fairly close proximity, we did what we could for them to help stop their bleeding," Mr Harrison said.
"The rest of the people inside the restaurant were beyond help."
The couple worked to help the victims until French paramedics arrived and took over.
Only then did they realise the extent of the terror attacks, Ms Mannes said.
"We had no idea, the one we went to was one of the smaller attacks, we didn't know there were so many going on."
The attack scene was chaotic and "pretty awful", the 27-year-old said.
"You've got the knowledge to do something, I think there wouldn't be too many paramedics who wouldn't do it," she said.
"It's completely different when it happens on a holiday and you're not prepared for it, it made it very difficult to deal with and particularly for me having my parents there."
Ms Mannes said receiving the governor-general's medallion was "a lovely surprise, very humbling".
The couple, who got engaged in Paris earlier last year, don't know whether their intervention saved lives or what happened to their injured patients after they were rushed to hospital but they're sure their work must have helped.
Sir Peter praised the couple for "showing courage and professional skill" in going to the aid of the terror victims.
He also praised the work of some 450 Australian paramedics who are working with the London Ambulance Service following a series of recruitment drives in Australia.
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