Nation: You Could Die Here

(3 of 3)

The smoke was getting heavy, making it hard to breathe. It was doubtful we could have lasted an other 30 minutes in the vault.

Dave Fields asked: "Are there some senior Pakistanis who would like to establish contact with the dissidents on the roof?" There were a number of volunteers.

"We will see if it's clear on the roof and we will go out very slowly, very orderly," said Fields.

"I will say who goes."

Finally it was the Marines who led the way up the stairs to the hatch. The first Marine opened the hatch and stuck his head out into the darkness. He had no way of knowing what might be waiting for him out there on the roof. It had gotten quiet; the shooting had stopped, the hammering and pounding had stopped. But it could well have been a trap. We didn't know. The only thing we had going for us was the darkness itself, and I guess the fires too. That must have been what drove the rioters away.

With the Marines standing guard over the hatch, two groups of women went out onto the roof, then some men, then some more women. A burst of fresh air suddenly hit me; very cold, very fresh. There was a strange glow around the edges of the roof from the fire that was consuming the building beneath us. The Marines warned us in whispers: "Stay down! Stay down!" They could not be sure there were not still rioters somewhere on the roof.

As more people came up from the vault, we gathered in knots for the move across the roof to a second ladder that went to the ground. The Marines led us over the side. "I'm sorry we have to take you through a little smoke here," one of them said to me. This part of the building was blazing from both sides, and smoke hung over everything. I kept thinking that the roof had to collapse soon—any minute.

When we came down the last ladder, we looked across to the embassy gates. The Pakistani army that had been coming to our rescue since the assault began at 1 p.m. finally opened the gates and some soldiers ceremoniously marched over to the ladder and welcomed us to the ground.

When we finally reached safety, Ambassador Hummel praised us for "having done more for ourselves than I could get the government of Pakistan to do." He was absolutely right. I don't care what President Carter says. I don't care what Secretary Vance says. We came out all by ourselves. It was our Marine guards who saved us. Nobody else.