Local man and woman finalists for Service-before-Self award

Two area residents - a Philadelphia police detective who rescued a woman and her three children from the Delaware River last summer, and a former Navy nurse and Red Cross worker from Abington who helps wounded soldiers and victims of natural disasters - are finalists for a major award for heroism.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation announced Monday that Detective Tim Brooks and Janice Lufkin were among 20 finalists for the group's Citizen Service-Before-Self honors.

Brooks, 45, was recognized for his efforts on July 7, when he dove into the Delaware River to rescue a woman and her three children after the Ride the Ducks tour craft in which they were riding was hit by a barge. Two tourists died in that accident.

Lufkin, 69, is a former Navy nurse who helped thousands of wounded soldiers in Vietnam and who as a Red Cross worker has aided people at disaster sites.

The awards, to be given to three finalists, are presented by the foundation to "unsung heroes" selected by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, which comprises the fewer than 100 living recipients of the Medal of Honor.

The winners will be announced March 22 and honored May 25, in conjunction with National Medal of Honor Day. The ceremony is to be held near the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington (Va.) National Cemetery, officials said.

"I am humbled, to say the least," said Brooks, a 19-year veteran of the Police Department.

"I am a bit of a history buff, and although I never served in the military, the sacrifices that these individuals made who have received the . . . Medal of Honor is beyond words," Brooks said. "To even have my name mentioned by them is humbling."

Brooks, a member of the department's Bomb Disposal Unit who also serves on the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Arson and Explosives Task Force, said he was in the "right place at the right time."

He said he was about two blocks away, at his office near Second and Chestnut Streets, when he heard a report of the duck accident and rushed to the scene. "I firmly believe that anybody in my situation would have done the same thing," Brooks said.

Lufkin said she was surprised to learn she was a finalist. "I'm just overwhelmed," she said. "I was absolutely astonished when I got the call."

Lufkin said she served on a medical ship off the coast of Vietnam during the war and treated thousands of wounded soldiers. She said she was pleased to be a finalist because few people had wanted to acknowledge her work because of opposition to the war.

In her work with the American Red Cross in Montgomery County, she said, she has provided help for people at more than 200 disaster sites.

"I love what I'm doing," Lufkin said. "I'm not doing it for any awards. I just like helping people in trouble."