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Meet Deamonte Love, Age 6 and the Children He Saved

The LA Times:

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.

...Deamonte volunteered his vital statistics. He said his father was tall and his mother was short. He gave his address, his phone number and the name of his elementary school.

He said that the 5-month-old was his brother, Darynael, and that two others were his cousins, Tyreek and Zoria. The other three lived in his apartment building. The children were clean and healthy — downright plump in the case of the infant, said Joyce Miller, a nurse who examined them. It was clear, she said, that "time had been taken with those kids." The baby was "fat and happy."

Later, more details emerged:

Deamonte began to give more details to Derrick Robertson, a 27-year-old Big Buddy mentor: How he saw his mother cry when he was loaded onto the helicopter. How he promised her he'd take care of his little brother.

Thankfully, the mothers have now been found and they've all been reunited:

Late Saturday night, they found Deamonte's mother, who was in a shelter in San Antonio along with the four mothers of the other five children. Catrina Williams, 26, saw her children's pictures on a website set up over the weekend by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. By Sunday, a private plane from Angel Flight was waiting to take the children to Texas.

But, how they got separated is every parent's nightmare: The helicopter came and there wasn't room for all. The helicopter personnel told the mothers to put the kids on board and they would return for the mothers.

The helicopter never returned. The kids went flown to Baton Rouge, and the parents ended up in Texas.

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    Deamonte has brought me something I never thought I'd have on the subject of Katrina. The first tear of joy, after a surfeit of the other kind. May his family be lucky enough to be chosen as the photo-op for Bush/Federal relief, as I fear only such a family will get anything like what they need.

    Re: Meet Deamonte Love, Age 6 and the Children He (none / 0) (#1)
    by Al on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:17 PM EST
    I hope he runs for president some day.

    Re: Meet Deamonte Love, Age 6 and the Children He (none / 0) (#2)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:17 PM EST
    Wow... He's got at least two votes, Al. It should be a walk in the park!

    Re: Meet Deamonte Love, Age 6 and the Children He (none / 0) (#3)
    by desertswine on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:17 PM EST
    What a great kid! And its great that they were reunited.

    Re: Meet Deamonte Love, Age 6 and the Children He (none / 0) (#4)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:17 PM EST