The Hero's

There have been a lot of people to blame since Katrina. But there have been a lot hero's too. I thought we might pay tribute to some of the hero's we hear about. From the people who selflessly gave out their own food and water in the shelter's to the hero's who worked rescuing survivors, the doctors and nurses who stayed with their patients to the rescuers who have poured into the disaster area asking only to help.

Post the stories here as you find them.

I am going to start with one that I found about the staff in hospitals and some of the rescuers who came to help.


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Disasters always spawn heroes.

On Sept. 11, 2001, many of them wore dark blue uniforms that said FDNY.

On Sept. 1, 2005, many wore hospital scrubs that said MD, RN and EMT. Thousands of health care workers stayed with patients in devastated hospitals after the storm struck. Thousands more rushed in to help.

They are people like Dr. Norman McSwain, a legendary, 68-year-old Tulane University trauma surgeon who on Sept. 1 waded through fetid floodwaters to get out word that thousands of people were trapped in hospitals running out of food and water.

And Dr. Rich Tabor, a 38-year-old Bethlehem, Pa., emergency medicine physician who got partners to cover his shifts and paid $520 out of his own pocket for a plane ticket to Louisiana, where he climbed into an airboat and went door-to-door with rescue workers.

And Barry Albertson Jr., 42, a paramedic from Easton, Pa., who missed his 7-year-old son's first peewee football game to join a caravan of ambulances making the 30-hour trip to New Orleans.

And Dr. Lee Garvey, 48, an emergency room doctor at Carolinas Medical Center who dropped everything to staff a state-of-the-art mobile hospital that provided the only trauma care for seven devastated counties in rural Mississippi.

"We're here because this is what we live to do," Garvey said, "trying to offer something to these people."

http://www.rednova.com/news/health/235915/doctors_emerging_as_heroes_of_katrina/

NUMEROUS stories are pouring out of Hurricane Katrina, and if federal authorities don’t learn from this disaster, it will be to their shame.

Among those that stand out is the remarkable tale of a 6-year-old named Deamonte Love. After being separated from their families, Deamonte took care of six other children: a 5-month-old, a 14-month-old, three children about 2, and a 3-year-old.

When Deamonte was found in Baton Rouge among other evacuees, he was holding the infant while the other children huddled close to him. The baby is his brother, two are cousins, and the rest lived in the same apartment building.

Deamonte’s mother, Catrina Williams, identified her children on a National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Web site, and they were reunited Sunday. Before then, though, she was in San Antonio, Texas, with the four mothers of the other children.

The families had been trapped in their apartment building for four days, and only separated when a helicopter came. Upon coaxing from her father and because they had run out of milk for the baby, Ms. Williams agreed to the transport of her children to a safer area. Apparently the other mothers followed suit. After all, the helicopter crew promised to return shortly. It didn’t, and the parents ended up in Texas.

Although I wonder why the helicopter didn’t return, it’s good Deamonte promised his mother he would take care of his baby brother. He did that. And more. He is my hero.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050910/COLUMNIST24/50910051/-1/NEWS

Great thread - I can't wait to start adding to it. I'm sure there are many, many hero's that we will hear about in the days and weeks to come. Thanks for starting this.

Angelo Di Cristina of Chalmette collapsed, crying, onto a chair outside the National Guard armory Friday, his daughter Marella, 8, wrapped in his arms.

His stepson, Christopher Broussard, was one of 100 troops with the 1st Battalion 141st Field Artillery unit that touched down on U.S. soil Friday after serving a year in Iraq.

The plane taxied to a stop under an arc of water streaming from two airport fire and rescue trucks.

In single file, the soldiers left the plane and walked across the tarmac to unfaltering but light applause from a few bystanders and some members of the media. One soldier carried a heart-shaped balloon in the same hand that kept the rifle slung over his shoulder from butting his leg.

Each walked to a building off the tarmac where they would be debriefed and greeted by the governor before boarding buses to a nearby armory where their families waited.

A homecoming without a home

http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050910/NEWS01/509100312/1002

SieSie said:

Great thread - I can't wait to start adding to it. I'm sure there are many, many hero's that we will hear about in the days and weeks to come. Thanks for starting this.

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With all of the bad things that are coming out- I just thought we needed to remember the good ones also.

Mississippi Power employees and outside workers have restored service to 98 percent of the company's customers who can receive power.

"Many of the Georgia Power crews have already left to prepare for the potential of Ophelia making landfall somewhere near their home areas, which highlights what a team effort this has been with all members of Southern Company. This miracle could not have been accomplished without much effort and support from the employees of our sister companies."
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2005/sep/1180662.htm

Just saw a report on CNN on a Steve Miller. He was an inmate (forgery) in Bay St. Louis, MS. He was out of hs cell when the hurricane hit. He rescued
a policeman who fell as well as the couple the policeman was helping...then he hears two women screaming and goes to find two 70 something ladies-one who had a broken arm from part of a building falling on her--he took off his shirt and made a sling for her arm. Then he found a man trapped in rubble and spent 45 mins digging him out then stayed with the man while he was transported to the hospital--holding his hand in the back of the pick up. (That man died later). Miller later learns that his wife and baby were killed in the storm. The jailers plan to ask the Gov of MS to pardon Miller for his heroics on that terrible day.

Animal rescues lift human spirits

Many kinds of creatures need a hand

Pass Christian,Miss.- The animal rescue team has come back for Nike the cat.
Tramping through the debris left by Hurrican Katrina around the white clapboard house, they see his fresh prints in the dark brown mud. They'll return with a trap, trying to coax him with a can of Friskies.


http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/breaking/katrina/10natkatpets.html

TexMex said:

Just saw a report on CNN on a Steve Miller. He was an inmate (forgery) in Bay St. Louis, MS. He was out of hs cell when the hurricane hit. He rescued
a policeman who fell as well as the couple the policeman was helping...then he hears two women screaming and goes to find two 70 something ladies-one who had a broken arm from part of a building falling on her--he took off his shirt and made a sling for her arm. Then he found a man trapped in rubble and spent 45 mins digging him out then stayed with the man while he was transported to the hospital--holding his hand in the back of the pick up. (That man died later). Miller later learns that his wife and baby were killed in the storm. The jailers plan to ask the Gov of MS to pardon Miller for his heroics on that terrible day.

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I sure hope they give this guy his pardon. When it came down to it, this guy chose to help, not to join the looters and rabble rousers. He deserves credit for that, no matter his past actions.

mysteriew said:

I sure hope they give this guy his pardon. When it came down to it, this guy chose to help, not to join the looters and rabble rousers. He deserves credit for that, no matter his past actions.

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Exactly! Plus, his past crime was apparently forgery - much different than if he were a murderer or sex-offender! This guy is a great example of the human spirit.

Jabbar Gibson, age reported 15-20. He had the stuff, this kid.

School bus comandeered by renegade refugees first to arrive at Astrodome

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory2/3334317



My Hero is a Bus Thief
http://uspolitics.about.com/gi/dyna....com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3335904




Storm Victims Steal School Buses To Flee New Orleans

http://www.local6.com/news/4929516/detail.html


Borrowed bus takes victims to Houston

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?fe...050901-13001700-bc-us-katrina-comandeered.xml


Teenager snatches bus to save dozens
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1763947,00.html

“I picked up a stranger,” Caldwell said. “Under normal circumstances, that’s something I would have never done.”
But it wasn’t normal circumstances. Caldwell was in the midst of the worst natural disaster to ever hit the United States, and offering a ride to a total stranger in search of infant formula seemed like the right thing to do.”
When disaster hits and everything has been turned upside down — literally — the rules change.

Caldwell not only helped her aunt and uncle in the days to follow with cleanup efforts and obtaining food and water, she also helped other storm victims living in or near the trailer park.
There was the stranger who was needing infant formula. She picked him up and drove him to a charitable distribution service. There were small children in the trailer park who were scared and hungry. She drove to the local Winn Dixie to pick up food for them.
“They were letting people in two at a time at the store,” she said. “The odor was terrible because all the meet had spoiled and was rotten. But we picked up treats for them like cookies.”
Caldwell also stood in an ice distribution line for over three hours in 90-degree weather. On her way back to the trailer park, she saw an old man and blind woman sitting on their front porch.
“I asked them if they had water, and they said no,” she said. “So, I went back and stood in line again for them.”
There were several scenes of compassion Caldwell observed, but there were also scenes of disorder. While standing in line for ice, she saw tempers flare.
“It was hot and there was the real fear that by the time you got to the front of the line, the ice would be gone,” she said. “It was very chaotic, but I have also never seen so many police officers in my life. That was a good thing, though. They had a strong presence, and that was needed to keep the order.”
While driving down I-10 toward Biloxi, swarms of police cruisers were also en route.
“I bet we passed 1,000 cops,” she said. “The entire ordeal was a humbling experience...No matter where you looked, nothing was untouched from that storm, and nobody was unaffected. I don’t care if the houses were big or small, they were all gone.”
http://www.harlandaily.com/reader.cfm?si=1&sd=5879

Americans have raised $587 million since Hurricane Katrina made landfall Aug. 29, surpassing the $239 million donated in the 10 days after 9/11 and the $163 million in the nine days after tsunamis hit Southeast Asia last December, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy newspaper. Relief centers are overflowing with donations of clothing, food, water and supplies. "People are just pouring their hearts out," said Sarah Marchetti, a Red Cross spokeswoman.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20...7QAfQWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3YWFzYnA2BHNlYwM3NDI-

With his hands, he tore his way out of his attic.

"I knew no nails were going to keep me in the attic," Traina said.

With 80-mile-per-hour winds blowing outside, Traina jumped into 20 feet of black, polluted and rushing flood water to get to his boat -- which was tied up to his truck and a trailer, wedged underneath a car port and approximately 10 to 15 feet underwater.

"It was a miracle it survived," Traina said of his 24-foot fishing boat, which became the transport that would take hundreds to safety.

After untying his boat and breaking apart the carport, Traina steered his boat to the front of the house to wait for the winds to die down before looking for safer shelter.

"When I drove the boat around the front of the house, I thought I was the only person in the neighborhood. But I saw people coming out of everywhere to get to the boat," Traina said.

When it was safe, Traina drove around and picked up about eight people to take with him to a local high school, one of the shelters that were set up in the area.

Traina knew more people were out there, and he made it his mission to see they made it out alive.

For five days, Traina used more than 370 gallons of gas as he rescued more than 250 people from their homes and brought them to safety. He kept his fishing boat fueled by cutting the gas lines from wrecked and abandoned boats.

Traina, the ultimate outdoorsman, not only spent his days and nights bringing his neighbors to safety, but he tried to provide as much luxury as he could. He befriended the sheriffs department and was deputized, which allowed him to provide food and water to those that came on his boat. And as resourceful as he was, he used the ice from abandoned fishing boats to provide cold water to those he rescued.

As Traina worked to rescue those that chose to stay behind, his family had no idea where he was or if he had even survived.

The Traina's say they have been disgusted with the television coverage of the events in New Orleans. They say there are many more people out there just like Todd, more good people than bad, just fighting to survive.

"They make New Orleans look like a jungle," Traina said. "They're showing burning buildings, that was an attempt to get someone to show up. That's someone fighting for their life."
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15180465&BRD=1426&PAG=461&dept_id=525682&rfi=6

Serving up food and encouragement to law enforcement

Sat. 3:00 P.M.
By Coleman Warner

Eddie "Eddie Boy" Woemer, an Elberta, Ala. sod grower well known to the New Orleans Saints as a supplier of turf fire up his bid grill at gatherings of his family and friends. Last year he fired it up to cook for emergency workers in Orange Beach, Ala. after Hurricane Ivan hit there.

And he didn't hesitate this weekend to go to New Orleans when a friend called to say that New Orleans Police Officers desperately needed fresh meals at the foot of Canal St., a general staging area for law enforcement. He and a few others arrived at 1 PM Sunday with big cookers and 1000 lbs. of meat, and their mission of serving 800 police officers has swelled dramatically.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breaki...imes-Picayune/archives/2005_09_10.html#078701

My hands down award winner is Gen. Honore. He is the man that showed humanity when it was needed and defied the show of force. Exclaiming that this is a humanitarian effort. Barking orders and taking charge and rescuing 60,000 people is the best that we can do as humans.He is the best of humans and should be honored in every way. So, there you go. A human being that is a hero in every way.My hero for probably the rest of my life.

I still love his statement that if the endangered alligators get in the way of his men and their job they won't be endangered they are dead.Alligators and water mocassins aren't cute and they kill people.

Anything for Gen. Honore? Am I the only one?

concernedperson said:

Anything for Gen. Honore? Am I the only one?

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He sounded great CP, but I think most are waiting to see what he will implement into action on his words.

So far I haven't heard much, but maybe it will come out later as things settle down a bit.

I heard today on Fox or could have been CNN that no one has ever been bitten by snakes during a hurricane. Now, the gators are another story maybe as they have had to chase them off from some areas.

George Mitchell's dog may be one of the most unlikely heroes to emerge in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Mitchell, 80, tells CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers that Frisky saved his life as Katrina was devastating the landscape.

The mutt, who's nearly blind now, is a schnauzer-poodle mix and, at 19, is the equivalent of 133 in human years. snip

Bowers met Mitchell in a Biloxi hospital, and found Frisky in Mitchell's bed with him. snip

"My little friend and I had a party that night," Mitchell says. "We had a big party. We spent the night treading water and swimming. … This thing (Katrina) was the monster of them all. It had to have come straight from Hell.

"About four hours after I was treading water and all, I was about ready to let go, and I felt this real peaceful feeling, like, 'This is it.' Ya know? And I was about to let go and, all of a sudden, he was on that mattress and come running to the corner of the mattress, and he kissed me and kissed me and kissed me. And it kinda snapped me out of it, and I was able to come back." snip
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/09/earlyshow/main829572.shtml

I confess, I cried.

Debbie, who is 47 and uses a wheelchair, had carried her painkillers -- 60 Loratab 10s -- into the attic. And she asked the girls to swallow the pills with her to end the suffering.

"She kept on saying, come on and take 'em," said Tiffany, who marked her 16th birthday in the Baton Rouge River Center shelter on Monday. "I just kept telling her we were going to be saved, but really, I didn't know."

Amanda swayed her mother from suicide by talking about her future.

"I said I want to finish school and have a job and have kids and have a husband," Amanda said.

"She was miraculous. I couldn't believe it," Debbie said of her younger daughter. "I was so proud of her. She just screamed like that for hours and hours. Her and Tiffany kept saying we weren't going to die up here."

Debbie grieves the loss of her mother, who had been her support system all her life, and worries about her brother, who she hasn't heard from since he rescued her and her girls. He stayed behind to help find more people.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/09/katrina.survivors/index.html