If this story doesn't move you, I don't know what would.
BATON ROUGE, La. — In the chaos that was Causeway Boulevard, this group of refugees stood out: a 6-year-old boy walking down the road, holding a 5-month-old, surrounded by five toddlers who followed him around as if he were their leader.They were holding hands. Three of the children were about 2 years old, and one was wearing only diapers. A 3-year-old girl, who wore colorful barrettes on the ends of her braids, had her 14-month-old brother in tow. The 6-year-old spoke for all of them, and he told rescuers his name was Deamonte Love.
How in the world did the children go from a helicopter with rescuer's to walking alone on the street????
Why didn't they go back for the parents, are take one parent to look after the kids?
Why isn;t the people in charge tracking who and where the people are, where they placed them??
I want to hug this little heroe
To anyone reading this if you know the whereabouts of Darryl & Catrina Williams (DEAMONTE LOVE'S PARENTS) could you have them contact me. I haven't heard from them since the hurricane. I am their aunt and I was concerned until today when I saw what Deamonte had accomplished during hurricane Katrina. The last I heard they were sheltered in San Antonio TX. Thank you so much!
Posted by: Carolyn on September 12, 2005 7:10 PMDeamonte is truly a brave little boy. Let's also thank the National Guard, the ambulance crew, the Louisiana State Police, The Shreveport Fire Department Captain, Austin Communications, and the Louisiana Office of Mental Health, all of whom assisted in caring for Deamonte and his little charges (cousins, sister and two more children not known to Deamonte). The answer to your questions about how this little boy got from the helicopter to the causeway and from the causeway to the Department of Social Services office in Baton Rouge has not been told. Deamonte et.al., were placed on a helicopter by his mother in the care of a neighbor who had children of her own. She shepherded these children off the helicopter and onto the causeway where she told rescue workers, that she could not take all of these children with her on the bus and care for them. She left Deamonte et.al., with Rescue workers at the Causeway. For the next 6 hours the workers entertained, fed, held, cared for these children while attempting time and again to secure transportation out of the miserable surroundings at the Causeway. Finally, through the help of Austin Communications, a Shreveport Fire Department Captain, Acadian Ambulance, Deamonte et.al., were headed for Baton Rouge, where this story picks up with DSS personnel making the connection with his family. I know it probably sounded much more exciting to read the story of the pied piper coming out of the flood waters, but life is actually very rarely like a fairy tale. No heros, just hard working people doing their jobs. Thank you all.