Sonny Byrd, Hans Buder, and David Hankla

Sonny, David and Hans

Three sophomores from Duke University in North Carolina managed to rescue several victims of Hurricane Katrina. I would never be able to imitate their actions. Their actions are very impressive, because while many people understand how horrible life down in the damaged area is, no one else seems to have the initiative to do anything to help. Yes, some people donate money, or send food, water, and clothing, but beyond that not much else has been done. Until now, that is. These three guys had the heart to make a difference.

Sonny Byrd, Hans Buder, and David Hankla drove down to the devastated New Orleans after seeing some news footage from after the hurricane that really disturbed them. They left around 6pm on Thursday, September 2nd, 2005 from Durham, and drove for 12 hours in a two-wheel-drive Hyundai. Once they got there, authorities refused them entrance several times. So, giving up, they helped load water onto trucks at a TV station. Soon, Byrd came up with a great idea. They stole ID’s, passes, t-shirts, and business cards from the station and made copies. Using these, they posed as journalists and were waved into the city by the National Guard when they showed the ID’s. As they drove around inside the city, they saw total devastation.

Mario, a fifteen-year-old on the street who was asking for food and water, recommended going to the convention center, where thousands of people needed help, and so they continued driving. 20 minutes later they arrived at the convention center, finding a horrible mess. The boys handed out some water, and went back to the teen in the street. That boy pointed out some people that really needed to get out. Those people became the first four people that the three boys heroically rescued. They consisted of three women and a man, whom the trio took to Baton Rouge. The man had been up a tree to escape the floodwater, and there he had been attacked by fire ants. After leaving the four in Baton Rouge, the students went back for more people the next morning. Two of the next three men were the women’s husbands. They got the two couples back together, and sent all seven people they had rescued on a bus to Texas.

Byrd, Buder, and Hankla impressed many people with their heroics, but the three say they just did it because it was the right thing to do. That made it all the better. The things that these three students did for those in need were fantastic, and not I, or many other people would have gone so far to help. I chose to write about David, Hans, and Sonny because I felt that they deserved commemoration. These teens’ actions made me realize that we need to do more to help hurricane victims. If three college students can do so much, why can’t we?