For his heroic efforts in performing two water rescues, Lincoln Police Sgt. Tu Tran was presented with the Medal of Valor by President Joe Biden at the White House today.
While this may be Tran’s highest honor, this award won’t rest alone on his shelf. For the same rescues, Tran has been awarded the Mayor’s Award of Excellence from City of Lincoln Government’s Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird, the Carnegie Medal — North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism, and LPD’s Medal of Honor and Life Saving Award.
“This is the face of a humble hero,” LPD said on social media, congratulating the decorated officer. “If you ask Sgt. Tu Tran about his two water rescues, he’ll give the credit to everyone else and just tell you it was the right thing to do. But his actions saved two lives and led to placing water rescue throw bags in every marked cruiser.”
In September of 2022, Tran leapt into a pond near 75th and Badger Road to assist two civilians in rescuing a driver who had suffered a medical issue and ended up partially submerged. The driver was unresponsive, but able to be resuscitated.
A few months later, in February of 2023, Tran didn’t hesitate to jump into another pond and rescue a woman from her sinking vehicle, after weather conditions caused her to fail a turn near Yankee Hill Road and Executive Woods Drive. There was freezing precipitation at the time and the wind chill was 4 above. Tran was able to pull the woman out of the car before it completely sank beneath the surface and assisted her to shore. He went home for a new uniform and returned to work.
Tran was most recent honor for his heroism was attending the 2024 State of the Union as the guest of Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts & Senator Deb Fischer.
“We are so proud of his professionalism and dedication every day,” LPD said.