LARIMORE, N.D. -- The Lunski family will leave for the U.S. Capitol Monday, exactly two weeks after two people died and 12 others were injured when a school bus and train collided near their home Jan. 5.
The Lunskis live just feet from the Larimore crash site and were first on scene to pull students from the wreckage. They treated injuries, provided warmth and kept young children alive until more help arrived.
Richard and Susan Lunski said it will be their first trip to Washington, D.C., and hopefully the first step down a long road of healing.
The couple is headed to Washington as special guests of U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and will attend the president's State of the Union Address.
Susan Lunski said the family is surprised about the invitation from Heitkamp.
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"We're being invited to go to the State of the Union Address," she said. "We were kind of in shock."
The Lunskis were chosen out of everyone in the state of North Dakota.
"That just blows our minds," Richard Lunski said.
Susan Lunski said the couple doesn't view themselves as heroes.
"We just did what anyone else would have done in this community, or surrounding community, or in the state of North Dakota," she said.