Seyyed of Quarters 15 (14)

Memories of Iranian Released POW, Seyyed Jamal Setarehdan

2017-1-14

Seyyed of Quarters 15

Memories of Iranian Released POW, Seyyed Jamal Setarehdan

Edited and Compiled by: Sassan Nateq

Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company

‎2016 (Persian Version)‎

Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

We were in Qasr-e Shirin to Gilan-e Gharb road and close to the defile of Imam Hassan (AS) Shrine, when the Iraqis suddenly appeared. They weren’t far away of us more than thirty or forty meters. We run toward the mountain. The Iraqis, who knew they will lose us in Bazideraz Mountains, began to shoot us with heavy machinegun and DShKM on tanks. We run faster and hid in one of grooves of Bazideraz slopes further than the previous location. We were out of Iraqis’ sight. We panted and had no energy to continue anymore. We could see Iraqis from there. They searched everywhere and had begun comfortably cutting and collecting the telephone wires.

Time passed slowly. Hunger and thirst annoyed me. I was in a state between wakefulness and sleep until dusk. The others’ state wasn’t better than me. I jumped with the slightest sound and thought the Iraqis have come. One or two hours after dark, one of my companions said: "I know somewhere in where we can find water."

Hearing this news made me as happy as drinking the water. Some ones else also were happy and began to speak.

• Where is it?
• Tell us where it is to go and find it.

The one, who knew the way, led us and we moved behind him. We passed several turns and after walking one kilometer we heard the sound of water flowing. We came to a small river. We dived into it recklessly. We drank water as far as we could. We cleaned our face and head from dust and filled our canteens. We should go away before the arrival of Iraqi patrols. Again we moved off and a little away stopped for refreshment. The soldiers also came at some intervals and we all came together to seek a solution. But with the vast extent of Iraqis’ siege, we could not find a way to escape.

On the third day, the heat was unbearable. It discharged our energy as well as emptied our water canteen. Suddenly we faced with a number of Iraqis. We used the remaining ammunition and went away shooting. Now our number had lessened. Some of us had been lost; several of injured had martyred and a few were behind us and had been captured. One of my fellow warriors said: "If we don’t find anything to eat, we’ll die before Iraqis kill us."

There was nothing to eat except for the thorn bushes on the plain, under the scorching sun. A sudden thought came to my mind. I started picking up thorns. They were looking at me with surprise. I pounded them with a stone. The thorns had seeds that eating them at least could stave off our hunger for hours. One or two imitated me, but the rest were exhausted and had no energy to do it. Thirst hurt me badly. One of the soldiers, whose lips cracked of thirst, came to me and said: "can you give me your RPG charge container?"  

I said to myself: "what’s the use of it for him in this wilderness?" But something struck me. Without question, I took out charge container one of RPG grenades from my backpack and gave it to him.

Two or three were separated from the rest. Turning us away, they urinated into it and then drank it to quench their thirst.

The third day passed at the worst possible conditions. We had been tired of the uncertainty and escape. Nobody was in a mood even to talk. While plunged his spearhead into ground, one of soldiers said: "why no one comes to help us?"

No one answered him. I wrote on the back of an empty matchbox: "I'm Seyyed Jamal Setarehdan. We have stuck under the siege of Iraqis and may be killed."

On the fourth day, with fear and suspicion of the presence of Iraqis, we again returned to the river at dark. I was filling my water canteen, when one of my companions jumped up out of blue and took something. I said, "What are you doing?"

He showed me a frog in his hand and said: "I'm dying of hunger. I heard the frog's hind legs are eatable."

He killed the frog and separated its legs with his spearhead and ate them. Three or four others did it of necessity.

The fifth evening, I gave my RPG to AliAshraf Nazarabadi to hide it under the soil, along with several other weapons. There was no use of having RPG without any grenades. With his spearhead, Nazarabadi dug the foot of a hill and buried the RPG and weapons. I was like a father who buries his son in the grave; I had no choice and should separate from the RPG.

Owing to my companions’ starvation and their lack of energy, I decided to visit the location of one of near 81ـDivision brigades. I guessed perhaps find something to eat. I once had gone there to bring some supplies, when I was in the battalion. The location of brigade was about two kilometers, and they had set up barricade along the river. The river had a little water and flowed into the defile of Imam Hassan (AS) Shrine. I went along the direction I supposed it ended up in the brigade. Fatigued and tired, I arrived to the location staggering. It darkened little by little. I waited in ambushed somewhere. I watched carefully over my surroundings and slowly went to the trenches one by one. I found a ranger helmet and a small radio inside one of the trenches. I put the helmet on. At least it could reduce the heat of the sun. I remembered the fighters of brigedar2 had thrown away dry breads by a hill. I looked for and found a sack. I went to the hill and collected eatable dry breads. I couldn’t starve anymore. I ate some dry bread. Suddenly, I heard footsteps. I threw the sack on the ground and hid behind a boulder. Four Iraqis passed and went away. I came back and filled the sack. I was not able to pick up the sack alone. Quickly I returned to our location and told my friends: "I found a little dry bread. I need two of you to come and help to bring them."

Two of them volunteered to go to the location of brigade. We went and took the sack of breads. Brigade2 had a buffet too. I told them: "it’s better to go to the buffet too. Maybe we find something."

The buffet of brigade was disarrayed and its shelves were empty. More of stuffs in shelves had burned. We found several jars of carrot jam and two packs of dates. The packs of dates had burnt and the dates had become like a rigid sheet. Suddenly, we heard the noise of Iraqis. Our breath was held. The Iraqis came and passed in front of buffet. One of my companions got mad and swore me and said: "You’ve brought us here to kill us."

I didn’t say anything to him. We looked surroundings and found an old cooking pot. There was a small creek in that vicinity. We filled the pot with water and returned. We added the jam, one of packs of rigid dates, and some dry bread to the water and put the pot over fire. We were about fifty people. We circled around the fire, so that the flame of fire couldn’t be seen from far away. We ate it half an hour later. Incredibly it was delicious. We actually came to life.

I turned on the radio which I had found. I turned the frequency channel bottom until I heard a clear sound. Hypocrites were broadcasting a program and constantly announced that their operation name is ‘Foroogh Javidan’. The speaker said constantly, "Shoot Mujahid ... Shoot Mujahid."

After this announcement, it was heard the burst of machineـgun fire and the speaker again invited excitedly their forces to advance. I changed the frequency. One of Iranian presenters spoke and said fighters have stopped the penetration of hypocrites on the outskirts of Eslamabad-e Gharb and have routed them. Hearing the news in that difficult situation raised our hopes for a moment.   

One of Lur soldiers’ leg had been shot. I had bandaged the wound and stopped his bleeding. He hobbled and scared not to able to save himself. Sometimes, I sat down beside and consoled him. I gave him one of burned packs of dates and said, "Sometimes put a piece of this in your mouth. It has been burned, but is better than nothing."

"You're safe, but I’ve lost a lot of blood and will die here." He said.

I said, "Don’t be afraid at all. I won’t let anything happens to you until I’m alive."

We were talking together when a big bee sat on my right hand and stung me. A few minutes later, it swelled and hurt me.

To be continued….