Digital switchover saves man's life

MEMPHIS, June 14 (UPI) -- The switch from analog to digital television may have saved the life of a World War II veteran in Memphis when lightning knocked down a tree in his yard.

Robert Monsarrat, 86, told the Memphis Commercial Appeal he was watching "Oprah Winfrey" in his kitchen instead of his bedroom Friday because the only television that gets a digital signal is in the kitchen. The storm brought a large red oak down on the house.

"I was curled up in the fetal position under the rubble when they dug me out," he said.

Monsarrat escaped without serious injuries. The story would likely have had a very different ending if he had received the digital converter box for the set in his bedroom, which was destroyed by the tree.