NATCHEZ &8212; With their networks destroyed and their workplace turned into a wasteland of tangled wires and broken poles, Entergy linemen stepped up to the task in the post-Katrina chaos, perhaps some of the last of the unsung heroes to get recognition for their work months after the life-changing storm cut across the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts.

Linemen are that way, however, never seeking the spotlight and seeing their work as their life&8217;s calling and not as a way to make names for themselves, said Travis Leggett, Entergy supervisor of the Natchez Network, which includes Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Wilkinson and Amite counties.

A lineman for 20 years before taking the administrative position, Leggett said Hurricane Katrina &8212; and then Hurricane Rita three weeks later &8212; left everyone reeling. &8220;We as a company had never dealt with something like this before, just in sheer numbers of outages,&8221; he said.

Leggett recently brought two of his linemen to his Natchez office for conversations about their work &8212; Jessie McDowell, based in Franklin County, who worked long into the night for many days after Katrina to get power back in his home county and then went to New Orleans to continue working there; and Flozell Grady, based in Natchez and only recently returned from National Guard duty in Iraq.

McDowell for the first time in his life kept a log of the days following Katrina. &8220;I knew there were things I wouldn&8217;t remember during the heat of the battle, some of the things I was going through,&8221; he said. &8220;I wrote not only as an Entergy employee but also as a husband and father and a person. It was the most draining emotionally of anything I&8217;ve ever been through in my life.&8221;

On Aug. 27, two days before Katrina would strike the coast, McDowell and his wife were on the Gulf Coast to celebrate their wedding anniversary. &8220;A friend called and said, &8216;Man, you need to get home.&8217; We went home Saturday.&8221;

On Sunday, he went to Gloster to load his truck with supplies. On Monday he met with other linemen and with Leggett, who laid out the plan of recovery once the storm had passed.

&8220;I was sitting in my office Monday and started watching limbs breaking off. My power went out,&8221; he said. His office is at his home in Franklin County a few miles east of Meadville. &8220;At about 4 or 5 that afternoon, I began to go out looking. I said to myself we&8217;re going to be in for a long outage.&8221;

By Tuesday, &8220;every light bulb in the county was out, and I knew we wouldn&8217;t get help for a while. This was major.&8221;

Louisiana and Mississippi power grids were in shambles by then. Leggett said in Natchez the network includes five high lines, two that look across the river, with damage already noted. &8220;Entergy was desperately trying to get more high lines up around Gloster. Tuesday afternoon, we lost the one across the river.&8221;

McDowell had begun to establish priorities. &8220;Number one was water. Without water, there was no fire protection, and I knew I had to get it up somewhere in the county.&8221;

He targeted the hospital, nursing home and at least one water supply as his goal. He was a one-man show in the county, cutting trees and checking lines, following the rigid company protocol.

Most of the towns of Meadville and Roxie regained power by Wednesday. &8220;Bude was still out. On Thursday, I got some pole-setting crews, the first help I got,&8221;

With Bude restored and a water supply on ready, he and the four linemen from Pennsylvania helping him worked long days. Then he continued working into the nights.

&8220;I set a goal every day, and we held to it until more help arrived,&8221; McDowell said. &8220;It must have been 1,000 times I was asked by someone when their power would come on. I didn&8217;t know when my own would come on.&8221;

Leggett said he knew at the time his Franklin County lineman could use 50 helpers. &8220;But I didn&8217;t have them,&8221; he said. &8220;We were not as hard hit as McComb, Tylertown and the coast.&8221;

Six days after the storm, he had power back at his own home, McDowell said. &8220;By September 5, everyone I&8217;m aware of has power. By then, I&8217;ve never been that mentally exhausted, that physically tired. I couldn&8217;t sleep for thinking, &8216;who have I missed.&8217;&8221;

His work was not done. He headed to New Orleans. &8220;That&8217;s another story,&8221; he said, shaking his head.

Leggett said his linemen worked three weeks straight without a break and did not know what was happening in the world. &8220;Three weeks of your life is just cut out, and it&8217;s gone,&8221; he said.

For McDowell, the rewards are simple. &8220;The proudest moment for any lineman is after a major disaster when the customer comes out and says thank you,&8221; he said. &8220;I can say then that I&8217;ve accomplished my task.&8221;

In 1982, he knew nothing about electric utility work but had a job offer. &8220;I was 25, fixing to get married and I took the job. I never knew it would turn me into a different person. I get to work outside. I like people. I like to talk. I fell in love with my job,&8221; he said.

His work has made a better person of him, he said. &8220;I feel I&8217;ve been trained to help people in need and to go anywhere to help people.&8221;

Like those linemen who came from all over the United States to help Louisiana and Mississippi, McDowell has been to many other states after disasters, as well.

&8220;It&8217;s voluntary. We&8217;re not forced to go. We feel it&8217;s an obligation for us to go help.&8221;

From Aug. 28 through Nov. 12, McDowell had four days off. His wife and two children are accustomed to his regimen. &8220;It&8217;s all my children have ever known,&8221; he said of his daughter, a senior in college, and his son, a high school student. &8220;This is our life. The phone rings. It&8217;s probably about power.&8221;

Leggett said the family support is vital. &8220;When a tree is down and power is off, whether it&8217;s late at night and it&8217;s raining, it doesn&8217;t matter. You do it.&8221;

That is always the way it will be for linemen, McDowell said. &8220;You just get up and go.&8221;

Leggett said the lineman is part mathematician, part chemist, part physicist, part public relations person. &8220;And he drives a truck, a $200,000 piece of equipment. It takes about five years to make a lineman, and you can&8217;t put just one hat on top of their heads.&8221;

McDowell held the lined tablet in his hands, where in his own words he has a record of the post-Katrina experience.

&8220;Challenging is a good word,&8221; he said of those intense weeks.

Were there feelings deeper inside that he had not revealed? He hung his head slightly. &8220;It gets emotional,&8221; he said.