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Thursday, September 01, 2005
Phillip Bullard, 13 Years Old and a Hero--Updated!(Bump to top due to updates) This is going to be the most famous young man in America in the next week:  Here's a good news story: Just before Katrina crashed into the east side of Biloxi, Miss., a dozen family members, friends and neighbors piled into the only bedroom of a wooden house.
Suddenly, the water rushed in, penetrating every wall and window. They retreated to a living room that yielded no protection from the 5-foot tide inside the house.
The babies began screaming, the adults panicked and Phillip Bullard, 13, began saving lives. Four adults and nine children, including himself.
Phillip swam and cradled the youngest. He floated the oldest -- all through the house, out a broken front window and into a boat floating nearby. He coaxed his twin sister to let go of the side of the house, which she clung to in terror. He took the hands of his mother and grandmother, both too frightened to leave their home, and guided them to safety.
"I just didn't want to see my family drown," said Phillip, a seventh-grader. "I was scared if I didn't keep helping, somebody would die."Hat Tip: Michele CatalanoLonger version with terrific details found. Phillip, a soft-spoken boy who said he knew he wanted to be a police officer or doctor before the storm, says he went under water to clear a path to the window and then got his 25-year-old sister, Yoshico Posey, out. He picked her first because she was the only other person who could swim and help guide the rest out of the house. They formed a rescue team. He carried or floated each person out the window; she passed them to a neighbor who was helping, or put them in a boat they found drifting by.
Later, they used broomsticks to paddle down the street and sought haven in the upstairs loft of a neighbor's home.
''It felt like Phillip was in there getting people for hours,'' said Vanessa Posey, sitting outside the shelter. ``I just kept thanking the Lord for every person he got out.''
By the time Phillip finally swam out of the house, he found his twin sister clinging to the exterior wall of the house.
''She was scared. It took me awhile to convince her to let go and take my hand,'' he said softly. ``But I had to keep trying because she would not have made it.''
After everyone was rescued, Phillip took the boat to Division Street, a main thoroughfare, to find help. It never came.
And so the story that began at noon Monday in the earliest moments of Katrina's brief stay ended with Phillip in a shelter, nursing a foot cut by tin that his mother fears will become infected. This time, help is on the way.
''I just thank God for Phillip,'' the mother said. ``We would not be here but for the grace of God and the courage of my son.''I say he's on five national broadcasts by the end of next week. And he deserves it. Best story yet to come out of the hurricane. Note that his left foot is bandaged in the picture.
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