The 347th Night of Memory – 5

Like Chamran

Compiled by: Leila Rostami
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2024-3-7

Note: The 347th session of memory night titled »Like Chamran« was held in the hall of the educational vice-chancellor of the art field (Hozeh Honari) organization of Islamic Revolution on Thursday, June 22, 2022. As well as, Martyr Chamran Educational Hall was also opened after the session. Five narrators of martyr Chamran's comrades were in this program: Fereydoun Ganjour, Mohammad Nokhostin, two brothers Hassan and Ismail Shahhosseini, and Sayyid Abbas Heidar Rabouki. Davoud Salehi hosted this memory night.

The fifth narrator of the program was Seyyed Abbas Haidar Rabouki. In his narration, he said: Anyone with different types of personality would go to the front; a group from the local mosque, a group from the Prime Minister, and a group went to the front with Dr. Chamran. According to Mr. Shah Hosseini, when you look at the Bostan front, for example, out of the 26,000 people who were advancing, 20,000 of them were grocers, blacksmiths, and office workers. While each of them had a Kalashnikov or RPG in their hand, they defeated Iraq in Bostan. Before the war, I was a motorcycle rider. I was one of those people who would get up on Friday morning, put on a motorcycle outfit and go to the motocross track. There were 3-4 tracks around Tehran, such as Tehran, Pars, Shahran and Mirdamad tracks. After the revolution, a track named Geisha was also opened. There used to be a few hills above the casino and below it.

About 40 days had passed since the war, as usual I was wearing a motorcycle outfit and went to the track. According to athletes, that day was also my good day. I was very happy and I was riding a motorcycle well. Some motorcyclists came with Suzuki and gas motorcycle. Anyone who had anything would come with it.

Gisha (Nasr Mountain) was not yet completed at that time, and they used to make wheels in it. Some people who had trail and terrace motors were displaced from the opposite hills. There was also a restaurant down there that looked like an octopus, where the children got tea and food. There was a very bad hill with a jump obstacle in the middle of its descent. Most of the kids who weren't good at riding motorcycles didn't make it down. Those who were good came down and those who were very talkative came faster. I was one of the good ones. I went down this slope with speed and when I reached the obstacle, I gave a little gas and jumped down. I assembled the engine very badly. I almost hit a few people! I came down and leaned the engine against the Octopus restaurant.

Mohsen was a kid from Naziabad and one of the non-professional motorcycle riders. He had a Suzuki that we used to go north together on Thursdays and Fridays. He came to the track from time to time. We used to call him Mohsen Lanturi. At that time, bikers had many strange names. Everyone had a name for himself. When I braked and was leaning the engine against the eight-footed restaurant, he came forward and said, "Hello, Dash Abbas!" What were you doing while you were hot?!" I said: "Well." He said: "Abbas! Do you know Dr. Chamran?!" I said: "Yes, the same person who was in Kurdistan is now the Minister of Defense." He said: "Yes, let's go next to this Land Rover for a minute, Dr. Chamran is inside this Land Rover, he is working with you." I did not take his words seriously, I did not believe him. I said to myself, what about Mohsen Lantori to Dr. Chamran?! He is the Minister of Defense! I said: "Go away, dad, you are talking nonsense!" What is the Minister of Defense doing here with this Land Rover?!" He said: "No, I will not lie to God."

Three or four days ago, Ayatollah Sanei had come by the Shah Mosque and twelve-thirteen Cherokee Chief cars were with him. I said: "He came like that!" How did this come with this Land Rover!?” I didn't believe it again. I said: "This is Mehdi Legan's car." He said: "Dad! The color of Mehdi Lagan car is different. Now let's go." I said: "Okay, let's go!"

The car was facing the hill on one side, a driver was sitting behind it, the student's side was empty, I said to myself again, he is yakking! We went to the back of the car, he opened the back door of the car. Land Rover has a half coat here, a half coat there. Yes, I saw someone sitting. He was wearing glasses, beard, head and face. I looked, usually everyone calls him doctor, when he opened the door, Mohsen put a little watermelon under our arms and said: "Mr. Dr. Ishan is also Abbas Kahraman, a professional motorcycle riding champion and..., you asked, I called him and he came." I said: "Hello, Doctor." He said: "Hello dear! You were coming down this slope and taking off at this speed!?” We would say "jump", he would say "tick off". "Yes," I said. He thought a little and said: "You are not afraid to do these things!" If you fall down and something happens to you?!" I said: "No, doctor, we ride motorcycles, we know."

Now I am 22 years old here. Then he thought a little and said: "For example, if you are going at a speed of 80 kilometers, what will you do if there is a two-meter-long wind in front of you?" I said: "What is two meters, Doctor!" Say 10 meters, we will jump." He thought a little and said: "Dear! All the things you do here, if you go to the front, you can do it there as well?” I said: "Yes sir, why can't I?" He thought for a while and said: "Mr. Talebzadeh has formed a group with some other motorcycle riders like you." We want to send them to the front, as you like, come to the front or go to Ahvaz. "Okay," I said. He said: "In addition, they also prepared some of these motorcycles for this purpose." For example, he could not say motor trail or cross. "Okay," I said.

Dr. Chamran left. Later, I asked Mohsen, he said: He was coming from the prime minister, he wanted to be rejected when he talked about the motorcycle riders and the front. I said: "If I come from this side and he sees this place, for example, it would be better." Mohsen said: "Will you come tomorrow?" I said: "Mohsen let go! I got angry, Dad, why are we fighting?! We have not yet joined the army. "Not a single bullet has passed in front of our noses." Mohsen said: "Anyway, we are prime minister's soldiers." I said: "Who did you bring?!" He said: "There are some comrades from Texas (at that time the end of Hashemi Street was called Texas) some children from Tehran Pars, two children from Darwaze Ghar, some children from Maidan Khorasan and Safari." I said. "Okay." I knew most of them. Later, Mohsen Lanturi was martyred by the hypocrites.

I didn't stay there anymore. I went to Tehran Pars and rode a motorcycle until the evening. I returned home, went to the bathroom and then went to the cinema and returned home again. I came to sleep, I said: "Let him go, this person said something to himself, now Mohsen also said something, aren't we war people!" In the mortar and so-and-so..." We had seen the war on television, cinema, and movies, where tanks and cannons explode, and a person is thrown, hits his back six times, and falls on the other side. I said, "Oh! Oh! It means that we should go there and these disasters will happen to us! Let it go, dad." Before I fell asleep, I said again: "Well, now I'll get up in the morning and go to the Prime Minister's office to see who this Mohsen Lanturi has brought, we'll gather there, talk a little and tell jokes and laugh." On the other side, I will go to the hill again and ride a motorcycle." By the way, I only wore motorcycle clothes on Fridays. That morning, in order to show myself and give a class, I put on a full dress and a cap, boots, and a shirt, and went to the alley and hit the handle. Now I don't know what my destiny wants to be!

I arrived in Amirieh next to the central police station. At that time, they called it the central police station. This prime ministerial street did not have a door like now and it was not ironed. It was a simple ordinary street. Anyone who wanted could pass through it. This is what happened after the bombing. I turned into Prime Ministery Street. I had a very powerful Cross engine, and twenty units of this motorcycle were imported into the country. I gave a little gas and raised the front of it and went to the end of the street. I also crossed the crossroads. Now there is no one to say that he is a good man! Now, if one crosses the intersection, you will have an accident, you don't even have control over one wheel! I went to the end of the street. A soldier saw me. I quickly lowered the front of the engine and drove around until I arrived at the prime minister's door. I saw Mohsen come out and shout: "Children, Abbas has come too!" Somehow he said that Abbas also came, now it seems like who has come! I turned inside. He said: "You're welcome, Abbas, did you bring your motorcycle?" I put the engine there.

I went and I saw Our local comrades; There are also Jalil, Hossein Karate, and many comrades from the track. We all stopped and started talking and joking. We got hot. We did not understand what happened! Earlier, Mohsen had taken me to the side yard of the prime minister. I saw, O! Ten new Honda 250 motorcycles! At that time, the new motorcycle did not get stuck at zero kilometers. It was banned. All had hidden their motorcycle. Whoever had it had used it so much that it was scrapped. I said: "Mohsen! Where did you get these?" He said: "I got a letter from the Prime Minister, I went and took it out of the warehouse." I said: "You are hot!" I kept saying: "O! What will happen to these engines if we ride them?" As soon as we entered and were telling jokes, we suddenly saw that they had loaded the engines into the truck, and they put my motorcycle first; That is, if we wanted to download the motorcycle, we had to download everyone.

I was confused, I didn't know what to say. I was not in my mood. My eyes fell on these kids and motorbikes and I was distracted. After a while, a bus arrived in front of the prime minister's door. It's like a garage! Half of it was outside, half inside the prime minister's office. They said: "Those who want to go to the front, come and board the bus. Let the bus start and go." I saw my friends get on board. On this side, 15-16 people from the Basij are standing with chafieh, scarf and prayer books who have already gone to the front and returned and are going again. We sit here and doze and joke. They warn us and say: "sir, don't talk nonsense." We also used to say: "Let's see, Dad..."

Anyway, the bus started, before it started, a person came to the driver's seat and stood in front of the people of the bus and said: "Gentlemen, this is the front where you want to go, not your mother's house!" When you get there, there are cannons, mortars, tanks, killed, wounded, captured, hunger, misery and poverty. Let me tell you right now, not everyone wants to get off." We did not understand what he was saying at all! We continued our ramblings. The party came to increase his hot onion and said: "Iraqi planes have just come, hit Andimeshk railway and destroyed it; hit a train and it took off from here and fell in Shah Abd al-Azim Street." Now we also said: "What does he say! let it go."

In short, we started walking, taking a nap in the car at night. I was sleeping, suddenly I saw the driver and the student saying, "O Imam Hussain!" O Hazrat Abbas! Oh Aba Fazel! When we came to see what happened, we saw that the bus turned left. We had reached Khorramabad. At that time, Khorramabad had a very dangerous pass, which was destroyed now. Nothing happened to anyone. Those who were sitting on the other side were either hanging on the chairs or lying on these sides. The driver opened the door and begged: "For God's sake, don't walk on the windows of the bus, the windows will be broken." Who was listening!? We all put our feet on these windows and went to the driver's seat and got out of the car. There was a coffee shop nearby. The driver and the student went to the coffee shop. Two trucks were there, they called the drivers of the trucks. They tied the box wire and rope to the wheels of the car, we, who were 50-60 people, helped and straightened the car. After a while, the driver sat behind the wheel, started two or three times and the car started. oh my God! Does a car that is left turn on so easily!? He said: "It's nothing, take it easy." It shook and turned on." He said: "Get in and let's go." We said: "Where!?" He said: "Ahvaz." How full we are now! We thought everything was over. We've boarded the bus. It was midnight, the weather was very cold in Khorramabad. We saw that the windows of the car were completely torn off and fell in the desert. We got up and said before those Basij forces come, let's go and sit on the side with the glass. We all ran and sat on the other side. They came up and saw us sitting on this side. They said: "Why don't you sit in your seats?" We said: "Well, it's cold, we're catching a cold!" These poor people did not say anything because their work was for God. They went and brought some blankets from the back of the car and closed the windows. We just took their blankets and put them on us!

The weather had cleared when we reached Andimeshk. The bus stopped for breakfast. Someone who was in responsible of charges gave cream and honey on the bus. We saw how hot the weather is. Khuzestan does not suffer from cold or heat. The sun was shining from this side. They came up again and said: "Why are you sitting here again?!" We said: "We sat in our seats, is there a problem?" The servants removed the blankets and the bus started. We arrived in Ahvaz. There were no one in Ahvaz, except for a few soldiers, us and a few of these forces. We said: "What is going on here?!" They said: "Iraq hit Ahvaz with rockets and Katyushas, and the fifth column also placed mortars around Ahvaz. Because the range was not long, they hit the people of Ahvaz from there and inside the trucks." These poor people had never had a single bullet pass through their noses. The city was destroyed. What were they left to do! They were told that the Iraqis had reached Kot Abdallah that is Noord[1]. They also left and later returned to their homes and lives.

We went into a school that had been vacated. (Later, all those schools became camps.) I saw my motorcycle there. We jumped, turned on the motorcycles and started jumping and playing thugs in the school yard. We climbed the school stairs and walked around the corridors and classrooms. They were all empty. We came down and after two hours they said: "They have come to take you to the Irregular Wars headquarters and to Dr. Chamran." We went to the Irregular Wars Headquarters and saw! What a great boulevard, dying for wheelieing. Inside the boulevard, we started walking here and there. We had disobeyed everyone. They said: "The doctor is dealing with you." We went, the doctor looked at us, looked at the motorcycling and said to the children: "Send these to Camp Darb Khazineh[2] for training." They sent us. When we returned, they said: "Dr. Chamran's leg was injured in the Sosangerd attack." And we went to see the doctor.