As he got ready for school, the Conway teenager hoped things would get back to normal after Hurricane Floyd. But many roads were closed, and some traffic lights still weren't working. Michael got into his mom's car, a 1992 Honda Accord, and wondered if schools might be re-opening prematurely.

"Make sure you have everything you need, kids." Wendy Todd thought the commute would be unusually long, but her routine was the same. First she'd drop off Michael at Conway High School. Then she'd drive 12-year-old Jennifer to Whittemore Park Middle School. Finally, she'd proceed to Strand Regional Specialty Associates in Myrtle Beach, where she works as a neuro-diagnostic technician.

On Highway 501, the trio found themselves locked in some of the worst traffic in Conway's history. The little town was fighting a flood. The Waccamaw River had risen quickly after Hurricane Floyd and was expected to crest at 17 feet later that week. Some five miles down the road, the National Guard was working to sandbag the riverbanks against rising waters.

As the car crawled past Wal-Mart, Michael noticed a tractor-trailer entering traffic directly behind them. Though he didn't know it at the time, the North Carolina rig was filled with flowers; it had just made a delivery to the store.

After an hour in traffic, the Todds were finally within a mile of the school. Their little car was sandwiched between the 18-wheeler behind them and a Ford Explorer ahead, and they were moving at a snail's pace.

Then they came to a complete stop.

Suddenly Michael noticed that something was wrong. "For some reason I looked in the rear-view mirror. The truck wasn't stopping."

The impact was tremendous. In the backseat, Jennifer screamed. Wendy jammed on the brakes, gripping the steering wheel tightly. With horror, she realized that her car was still moving.

Unbelievably, the truck driver accelerated, not realizing he'd hooked onto the Accord. "We found out later that he didn't know we were still in front of him!" said Wendy. "He remembered pulling behind us – but then he just didn't know where we went. He pressed his gas because he thought he had enough space to go forward. He didn't feel us on his bumper at all."

Wendy considered jumping from the car, but didn't want to take her foot off the brake. "I thought, 'If I get out, the truck will just keep on going. Then Michael said, 'I'm gonna stop him!'"

Without a thought for his own safety, the boy unbuckled his seatbelt and threw open the car door. He ran up the embankment, out of the path of the truck, and then back down to the road by the Explorer. Then he began jumping up and down, in a desperate attempt to attract the trucker's attention, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Hey! You're on my mama's car!"

After a few heart-stopping moments, the driver of the tractor-trailer saw the boy, and hit the brakes. The truck came to a halt.

Within an hour, the rig was separated from the little car. The shaken family decided to take the rest of the day off. The damage to the Todd's Accord was minimal, and the trucking company eventually paid for repairs.

Wendy Todd knew her son had risked his life, and she told several friends and family members about the incident. Things quietly got back to normal.

But word gets around, in a small town. Last Friday, Michael Todd, now 16, stood in his school library with his mother, father, and sister, and a group of people he didn't know. They teasingly told him that they planned to shave his head and induct him into the Army. As the school's video cameras started rolling, Michael was a little nervous.

The strangers were officers of the Disabled American Veterans, Conway Chapter #57. "We've been wanting to start some kind of program, and we decided to do something for young people," said William Strickland, senior vice commander of Chapter 57. "Everybody talks down about young people, but when they do a good deed, nobody says anything." The group began to discuss an informal program to recognize community youth.

Strickland doesn't remember how Chapter 57 first learned about Michael Todd. "You know how people talk," he said. The group discussed the boy at one of their meetings, held on the second Thursday of each month at the Conway Senior Center on Millpond Road. Chapter 57, which currently has 80 members, about 25 of whom are active, agreed unanimously that Michael should receive recognition.

A veteran of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, Strickland said that Michael Todd's bravery was admirable. "When I first heard about it, it reminded me of being in combat, when people did heroic things."

In a short ceremony, DAV Chapter 57 honored the teenager with an engraved plaque. It reads: "Presented to Michael W. Todd for act of bravery on September 20, 1999, given by Chapter 57 of Conway, Disabled American Veterans."

Conway High School principal Dr. David Pugh said he was proud of the young sophomore. "What Michael did was truly heroic, and he deserves this accolade."

The principal observed that the Todd family is close. "They're active school volunteers; Michael plays drums and his parents help with band functions. There's discipline and mutual support. Michael's parents want him to do his best – and they want to be part of his development."

"I particularly appreciate the DAV for recognizing such an act," Dr. Pugh said. "This helps remind parents that most kids in our schools are good kids who want to do positive things."

"I don't think I deserve this award," said Michael after the ceremony. "I just did what needed to be done. But it was real nice of the DAV."

"That trucker would have driven over the car," his father Tommy said with grim certainty, in the voice of a man who knows how close he came to losing his family that morning.

"He told me I was the man of the house after that," Michael said, laughing.