Heroism can come in many different forms. One one sleepy morning in late March, it manifested as Navy veteran Calvin Wilson.

Wilson was waiting at Race-Vine station in Philadelphia when he saw a man on the opposite platform moving to leap onto to the tracks. The man’s wife was pleading for him not to jump.

Police told CBS News that both the heart-breaking scene and daring rescue were caught on surveillance cameras.

A wife, police say, was trying to keep her despondent husband from plunging onto the tracks.

“Lucky I was there to help,” Wilson told Eyewitness News.

“There’s just heart-wrenching video of the man’s wife trying to prevent him from jumping in front of a train,” said SEPTA Police Chief Thomas Nestel. Police say as she fought to keep him off the tracks, and the deadly third rail, suddenly Wilson appears to help save his life.

“An angel dropped down on Race-Vine station today,” said Nestel.

Without a moment to lose, Wilson hurried to the other side of the platform to intervene.

“It’s just that military instinct kicked in. I was in the military. It just kicked in. It just came over me and said go,” Wilson told CBS.

Wilson, 56, served in the Navy for eight years, including during the Gulf War. He later explained to reporters that he was trained to wait 30 seconds before intervening in an emergency. When Wilson saw that no one else was going to help, he acted.

As the suicidal man tried to leap onto the high-voltage tracks, Wilson grabbed his arm. He was able to restrain the man until authorities arrived. The Navy veteran hugged the man’s wife before the couple left.

[CBS]