241 Comrades Died on the Day I Overslept

October 23, 1983, Beirut, four o'clock in the morning. My comrade Danny knocked on my door and asked me to go for a run on the beach at 6:30. I said, let me sleep for ten more minutes. At 6:22, a yellow truck rushed into the barracks. 241 U. S. Marines died in their sleep. Danny died at the entrance to the hall, closest to the truck. I was dug out of the rubble on the third floor. My ribs were broken and my left ear was deafened, but I was alive. When I returned home, President Reagan put a medal on my head, and reporters asked me how I survived. I was silent for seven seconds. I said, because I slept for ten minutes more. That night, Danny's fiancée called me. She only said one sentence: "Why is it you?" Three years later, I returned to Beirut. I'm going to find the guy who drives the truck. I want to ask his mother—— That morning, did she fry an egg for her son?