TSUNAMI HERO - 17 YEAR OLD GIVES LIFE FOR OTHERS

A boy nicknamed "Golf" - just 17 - saved two others, high up on a flagpole surrounded by waves, though it cost him his own life. One of the girls he saved tells the story in the Telegraph. Exerpted below:

"I have cried for so many days," said Bua. "I want to cry now, but I have no more tears."
She was on the beach front playground at Kalim school, just north of Patong, whenthe tsunami approached. Two of the group ran into a school building for shelter, while the other six grabbed on to flagpole, climbing it as the water rose.
The first wave swept away two of them and collapsed the building. The next one dragged one more girl away from the flagpole, and Bua was about to lose hold herself when a 17-year-old boy, nicknamed Golf, seized hold of her and saved her life.
Golf tied the three of them to the flagpole using its cord, positioning his body to protect the two remaining girls from the debris being tossed around by the sea, keeping hold even as the rope nearly amputated his hand.
When the water receded Bua was unhurt and the other girl, who has gone home to her family hundreds of miles away, had only a broken arm. Golf, though, had been battered to death

(For ways to give, see "Some Christian Charities for Tsunami Donations" below.)