EVENING BELL: The Testament of a Dying Day On the night of September 25-26, 1983, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov saved the planet from World War III. Excerpts from his story, recorded in 1991, appear in a recent report in Rodina magazine. "A deafening buzzer ripped through the drowsy silence of the command center. A red spot pulsed steadily before my eyes. Like a naked heart. And one word: 'Launch.'" It was a combat alert.