US Marine gets family to safety, volunteers for duty at Superdome (AFP)

NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - A metal barrier and a sea of desperate, angry people separate Lance Corporal Anthony Roberts from his father.

But Roberts -- one of about 40 servicemen guarding the evacuation route at the Superdome in New Orleans, which houses more than 10,000 people made homeless by Hurricane Katrina -- will not help his father get out.

"I don't want to do the pick-and-choose thing, because that would only make the people more stressed out," he said over the shouts of the hot, frustrated crowd.

"It wouldn't be right," the 20-year-old said. "Everyone else has to wait."

The marine's father had been separated from the rest of his family about two hours earlier in the mad crush on the plaza outside the Superdome where evacuees were slowly being filtered into a shopping center that had buses waiting outside in ankle-deep water.

"I'm just hoping he can push his way through," Roberts said Thursday afternoon, on the first full day of evacuation.

The family of 10 -- Roberts, his parents, his younger brother, his cousin, his sister and her four children -- arrived at the shelter on Monday after Katrina flooded their neighborhood.

Roberts went home to help his family when they told him they did not have enough vehicles to get out of town. They got caught in the storm and had to wait for the floodwaters to drop before they could wade out.

AFP Photo: Marine Lance Corpral Anthony Roberts helps a young boy find his way to buses that...

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