Only a Persian Melon Has Remained!
Maryam Rajabi
Translated by Ruhollah Golmoradi
2018-07-17
Ali Fadaei, one of warriors of the holy defense, was narrator of 289th session of memory night. On the sidelines of this program, correspondent of Iranian Oral History Website interviewed him. In the following text, you read other memories of the Holy Defense warrior.
Please introduce yourself.
I am Ali Fadaei and I was born in March 1968.
Tell us about memories of the front.
I was only seventeen years old that I was in the front, I would miss most of times. The first time I missed my parents, it was 2 a.m. and I was in my (guard) post. I was enough sad to be choked up with tears and because I was alone, I cried easily. At that time, it was said that until 17 years, you do not have to go to the front and surely your father allowance is required. When my family opposed, I emphasized that when I would be seventeen, I can go to the front according to Imam Khomeini's decree.
On February 21, 1984, one day after I became seventeen, I registered to go to the front. From April 7, 1984, I participated in a training course one month and on May 15 I was dispatched to front of Kurdistan areas. Ten to twenty days after my dispatch I became really sad, and missing brought me a lot of psychological pressure. I was alone and I was able to cry. After a little cry, I remembered the day that I had fallen down the bike alley. My pants were torn, my knees were wounded, my head stroke at tree and my shoulders hit the alley curb (water path). When I got home, my mother hugged me and kissed, dressed my wound and changed my clothes. She put my head on her leg and massaged my shoulders in order to soothe. I remembered that day during guarding and I sobbed highly. I warned myself for a moment that this is war and you're now a mature man. I was talking to myself, but as if my heart wanted a listener's ear. There I could talk to Imam Mahdi (Aj) for the first time, and I told all my fears and loneliness to the Hazrat, this was repeated, and I undertook post of 2 a.m. and made an appointment with Agha (Imam Mahdi) for the post time and talked with him. I just did not see Agha, but I felt him.
What did you feel when you went to the front in young age and saw the war directly?
It is interesting that many young people want to know the fact; that how a 16-17 year old young pass the first shootings and how is his feeling. My first serious clash took place in Kurdistan. For Operation Ghaem al-Mohammad (AJ), we were taken to Duzakh Darreh which was behind Marivan and headquarters of Democratic cabal. Three companies were supposed to act, one of the companies lost, and the other was late for several hours. We arrived the position at 5 a.m. We had walked around six hours to reach there. The commander told us that you 10 people go and locate in the nearby hill, support so that they do not outflank us and I get there too. I and martyr Mousa Rezaee were the last two people who were walking and we saw that in the groove, two or three people of Komala were running upwards. We positioned quickly. As soon as they got away from the groove, we sprayed them with bullets. After shootings, I felt a stab of guilt. I looked at Mousa and said that did we kill them, did they really die! They might have had a family and their parents have waited for them. I was talking with Mousa these words that suddenly a few bullets stroke around us. We jumped behind a small stone that was near us and we stood behind it hardly. There was a sharp stone under my belly and it bothered me, I got up quickly to turn and lain on my other side. Komala sniper had leveled my forehead. It was a tracer and had fire from behind. I went a few centimeters to the right, when the bullet crossed my ears and burned it. I thought it stroke inside my ear. I touched my ear and saw that there wasn't any blood. I told myself that seriously there is a war! Jihad has killing and being killed, it has resistance. My stab of guilt decreased a little after this happen, as if the bullet was a sign from God to show me that this is the situation, if you do not kill, they will kill you.
Tell us about works that you did in the front.
I was famous in the front as "Gholumi", and whit all my humor, I worked hard. Behrooz Davoodi and I did many heavy works. In one of the operations, we built eight bastions from night to noon of next day, every bastion needed 200 gunnysacks of dirt to be filled and laid. At the beginning of the operation, loaders had come and did them depot piecemeal. Then they had returned and filled these spaces. We had stood in third platoon of a command that we had captured from Iraq. Suddenly commander of our platoon was wounded. I helped commander of the platoon to align the guys in position. Once we heard sound of Iraqi tanks. The same night was the operation. One to two hours after the line was closed, Iraq's first line was behind us and their second line was in front of us. Tanks and equipment are usually in the second line. As soon as they started tanks, a very terrible sound was heard from a close distance. The guys frightened and moved a little back and forth. I said you should not move and everyone must stay here. Accidentally, we had shot in a shooting field that was in headquarter and there was an extra RPG bullet. Martyr Mohammad Reza Touraji told me: "Do you shot Gholumi?" I accepted too. In a joking way, I put the bullet in RPG and immediately shot it without leveling. I was fortunate and it exactly stroke at the tank. After that the guys insisted me to take RPG and I didn't accept it at all. At that moment when the tanks had moved from the second line, they also told me to shot with RPG and I would not accept.
There was a wounded warrior that had a RPG. We brought it. For the line, the guys were given a RPG backpack in order to have more bullets in the line. The backpack was heavy and they wanted to give it to a RPG shooter as soon as possible to use it so that they themselves become light and go. For this reason, as soon as they saw me who I had taken the wounded RPG, they came in a row to give me their bullets. RPG bullet has a light that enemy sees through it RPG shooter. His front and rear lights up and he should change his position quickly. Behrouz controlled this situation and supported me and gave me bullet. Some bullets looked like melon and were also very heavy, and Korean bullets were like rockets. After some shootings, I wanted Behrooz to give me bullet and he said that only melon has remained! With these bullets, due to their heaviness, we could not level well. We should shoot hooked to hit target. Voice of the tank was approaching, I told Behrouz to bring the melons. I read the verse " neither was it you who threw at them. Allah threw at them" (verse 17 of Al-Anfal). Since I had shot many bullets, I did not hear anything, and I constantly asked Behrooz in which side is sound of the tank. He referred somewhere and I shot. In short, in that absolute darkness, we stroke a melon bullet at turret of the tank. Exploration of this tank caused rest of the tanks to think that we were very close and they wanted to retreat. Behrouz was very busy there. Then a bullet stuck in the RPG and we could not get it out anyway.
It was morning and again the tanks moved towards us. We found another grip and the guys shot whit it. I also sat down behind depot and shot a bullet. It hit back of the tank and tank saw me. As soon as he wanted to shoot me, I went inside a bastion and stopped. Direct bullet of tank has a high speed, cracks depot like torpedo and go ahead. Fortunately, our depot in region was behind the road and road was about a meter and a half higher than the depot. Bullet of tank hit the road and after the first bullet, my leg got stuck in barbed wires. That tank shot three bullets. Behrouz came and pulled me out of the wires hardly. A quiver had hit my RPG grip meanwhile and it no longer worked. That's why we went to the RPG that bullet was stuck within it. We ignore cautiousness. In short, we could pull it out. We shot other bullets so that the guys came and the tanks went down again. Then Iraq fired chemical and our equipment was disappeared at time of returning. We were looking for mask that it started to rain about ten minutes after Iraq chemical. We defended about two and a half days at the same line, because Amir al-Momenin (PBUH) battalion that had come to the second line after the operation to get the line from Ya Zahra battalion, had been destroyed in the morning of the operation by Iraq helicopter rockets and many troops had died a martyr. We ourselves defend the second day and the third day until noon. After the rain was over, the sun rose and explosion dust went up. We had inhaled a bit of chemical, and its effects showed itself 10 to 15 years later. I still have a respiratory problem, but I care. After Iraq chemical, an organized twenty to thirty people group, came to us from the back line. Behrooz said that they sieged us. Iraq had a number of bread-like canals in which they stationed. Our number was low. We were looking for finding a weapon and go to the passage and capture it so that Iraq fired Katyusha to kill us, but its own forces were killed!"
Thank you for giving us your time.
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