diff --git a/test/memory/opal_memory_basic.c b/test/memory/opal_memory_basic.c
index 72334168d8..d7f7fefd83 100644
--- a/test/memory/opal_memory_basic.c
+++ b/test/memory/opal_memory_basic.c
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 #include "opal/runtime/opal.h"
 #include "opal/memoryhooks/memory.h"
 
-int counter = 0;
+volatile int counter = 0;
 const int bigsize = 100 * 1024 * 1024;
 
 static void