On April 7, 1981, at the age of 23, Saunders identified and reported safety hazards at the Corpus Christi Public Grain Elevator, in Corpus Christi, Texas. He submitted recommendations outlining a temporary shutdown of the facility, and necessary repairs to resolve problems with the failing dust collection system. Management representatives met with the head engineer and declined to act on the inspection report, opting instead to continue normal operations. The next day, on April 7, an employee disregarded basic safety precautions during a routine Phostoxin pesticide application, triggering a spark in one of the silos with abnormally heavy grain dust concentrations. The suspended grain dust particles instantly ignited, producing a series of powerful explosions that ripped through the facility at a speed calculated by experts at Texas A&M University to be in excess of 1,082 ft per second. The grain elevator's silos (14-stories tall, 40 ft in diameter with reinforced walls up to 3 ft thick) were destroyed in seconds. There was massive loss of life as many grain elevator employees were either killed by the blast instantly or succumbed to fatal injuries in the moments that followed. Many others suffered severe, life-altering injuries requiring extended hospitalization. Saunders was in the USDA government building when the largest explosion struck. Having heard the sudden blasts erupting just yards away, his last recollection of the event is that “the walls blew out in my face. The crackling and popping of the concrete being blown apart was so loud it felt like it was going to split my head wide open.” He was instantly knocked unconscious and was blown through the roof of the building. Paramedics found Saunders over 300 ft away, a crumpled mass lying in a pool of blood on a concrete parking lot. Saunders’ injuries were so severe that he was “black-flagged” and not expected to survive. Because all ambulances on the scene were occupied by other survivors, Saunders was placed into a station wagon and driven to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital. His injuries included a fractured skull, collapsed lungs, shattered scapulas, various internal and external injuries and a severed spine at (T5). His body was broken over at the chest like most people bend at the waist when they bend to touch their toes. Doctors gave him less than 1% chance of survival. As the explosion garnered national news coverage, doctors worked to first stabilize Saunders’ condition, and then