My old man at 87, Still a champ !
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My old man at 87, Still a champ !
25-Jul-2008
For me to come up with my Dad's ultimate trait is pretty easy. He doesn't lie & He never apologizes for the truth.He rarely engage in meaningless conversations and if asked by a willing listener for his take on an issue he will in an articulate short form express his views yet being polite He always adds the phrase that "I myself am an avid student in search of truth & respect others opinion as long as it doesn't insult comom sense""..He didn't lie when as a freshman officer in 1945 during the General Minbashian campaign against sessesionists in Azerbaijanwas directed by his superior to lie about some captured pro russian Pishehvari militia in Tabriz & claime that they took shots at his platoon& hence got jailed for 30 days. He didn't lie in 1948 when some influential officers asked him to make a false claime on behalf of some corrupt officers on trial for awarding major contracts to friends & got his promotion stayed for a year... And he didn't lie when in 1952 as a young Captain was charged by military court to belong to a pro Mossadegh officers network & spent, 2.5 years in "ghaleh Falak-ol-Aflack " Army jail in Khoram-abad waiting in line to get a death sentence by firing squad as He watched many of his ranks did on a weekly basis.... He rarely talks about himself but my Uncles who were present at trial told me & transcripts that I later read after revolution showed me what He said in his own defence to that stern Colonel judge in 1954 ....""Your honour , I am an officer of Imperial Ground forces of Iran.....I am being charged for supporting the legal & constitutional prime minister of this country during his premiership.The same Prime minister that was sanctioned'supported & commended during the same time by his Imperial Majesty 'shahanshah of Iran ..If that's a crime then I stand guilty side by side his Majesty Shahanshah for supporting the same gentleman. ...But I believe that the real reason I am on trial here today has nothing to do with Mr Mossadegh but doing my patriotic duty as an officer who stood against corruption in the officer's club. .... I am being blackmailed & paid back by same individuals who found me in their way..etc..I don't fear death & will die for my country but You should fear injustice since it will give birth to the victory of the corrupt & incompetent to run the affairs of our beloved Iran's armed forces""...He was exonerated 2 days later holding my 2 year old older sister for the 1st time and joined the ranks once again...
He told a friend once that Sitting in that bus after release on his way to Tehran, watching average folks doing their daily chores unawareand ignorant to the pains of others made him realize that our nation doesn't need heroes and change has to come from within themselves..
He liked Bakhtiar and respected Shah as a patriot who would have better served Iran as a tough prime minister in a democracy than a weak king in a dictatorship.
He rarely complains or whines about issues & He used to say that " Sentence me to life in a closet and I,ll make it a heaven on earth for myself"..or.." I fall to sleep the moment my head hits the pillow since I am not slave to greed""..I remember as a kid playing with his Chess board made in jail by bread doughHe maticulasly shaped into roukh, vazir & etc.. Eventhough He left the Army as a Major in late 60's and joined the private sector
He still prefers Khaki suite and to this age at 86 gets up at 4.30AM and works part time at his friend shop in Central Tehran not for the money but to keep busy.
He left his family & Joined the Army at a young age just like his Dad Bahram-gholi & some of his uncles who were part of Ashayer/army in Reza shah era andfought against Shaikh Khazaal sessiosionist in Khuzistan.. He is a God fearing man but not a holier than Pope sorta dude eventhoughnowadays He does his religious chores more often ..He is a quiet man who spends his free time reading in his tiny library and I must say thatwatching him read books and news papers got me into the habbit of reading the paper every morning from the young age...
But He had one weaknessthat got him into many troubles in his young days.."Women" . From Singers on Laleh zar Cabarets in the 40's to The Russian women officers & polish immigrants in WW2 and from the fiancee of his superior officer & deputy to General Min-bashian division to what ever that moved , He paid homage to the female specie..He married & divorced 3 different women by age 30 until He met My Mom and settled down for good. Life as He once told me briefly "" is a process of trial & error..the winner is the personwho admits his/her failure and get on with it before the Bucks run away"". He is a kind man who gives more than He recieves and rarely looks back to bicker about folkswho did him wrong.. If You ask him about advice He will smile at you and tell you that You can come up with a better one if you trust in yourself. He doesn't lecture any one, pitty himself , rush to judgement or engage in rethorical dialogue since He finds it pointless
..If he sense that you are a phonie or you talk jiberish or nonsensejust to make a conversation He will ignore you at once and believe me that is an awkward moment if You are in a traditional Irani "Mehmooni" since a lota that "Taaroff" goes on.
He eats small meals but the plate is shiny clean once He is done with it..exact opposite of me..During the days of revolution He used to tell me that this nation is not ready for change & that revolution happens when a nation goes insane knowing what She hates but having no clue what she gets. So making a decision under temprary insanity is the wrong way to go .He doesn't talk about politics & smiles at you if you are too oppinionated. when asked about Ayatollah Khomeini, Shah, Bakhtiar or others ..He will tell You that it is a learning process & that figures in History are an unavoidable force and that Iran needed Mr Khomeini'the Shah & Mr Bakhtiar as much as It needed Cyrus, Darius & Ghajar to find a final middle ground that will fit her shoes & style.
This is is not all there is to his life but just some notes about that old dude still kickin in good old Tehran!...I know you don't care for birthdays but...Happy 87th Birthday Dad!!
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In honor of Jenaab sargord's Bday !!
by ebi amirhosseini on Sat Jul 26, 2008 09:34 AM PDTFor all Dads:
samsam
by jamshid on Sat Jul 26, 2008 02:46 AM PDTMy friend, that WAS my intention! Now go make the arrangements. I promise, no, I guarantee, that you won't regret it.
هسابی زر میزانی ولی بنیه خوبی داری
Sadaia_qesaSat Jul 26, 2008 01:25 AM PDT
لو ر عزیز
بنیه خوبی داری نو ه بلوچ هستی
Goli khanoom !! thank you , But
by samsam1111 on Fri Jul 25, 2008 07:04 PM PDT""Give him a big kiss for me and thank him for his service to our country.""
knowing him, He would say ""I may be old but I still won,t refuse that from a charming lady..keep it coming ""
:) Cheers
Jamshid I KNOW and I am even sadder
by samsam1111 on Fri Jul 25, 2008 06:52 PM PDTand feel humbeled by those 2 who refuse to nag just so they won,t make me feel guilty..The true love all forgiving...I must stop all selfish excuses...Thank you for your subtle poem on friday night all dressed up and feeling guilty & dumb...a deserving slap in the head nevertheless..thx Jamshid!
Majid:
What a small world..lol..yes Khajoo Geda..the morning milk..what a crazy school..the 1st day of my 1st grade started with 2 boys falling in (chaheh fazelab) through it,s break covered opening while playing khar polis on school ground and suffocated to death ..Imagine that!! for a 1st grader to see 1st day of school..read my earlier blog notes on Khajoo (nimkateh khali classeh sevom). hehe
Samsam
by jamshid on Fri Jul 25, 2008 05:58 PM PDTThis poem is my response to your reply. I don't know who wrote it, but read it and think about it:
The clock of life wounds but once
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early hour.
Now is the time you own.
Live, love, toil with a will.
Place no faith in time.
You never know when the clock may be still.
NO FRIGGIN WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Majid on Fri Jul 25, 2008 06:23 PM PDTOMG.........SAMSAM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!you DO remember Khaajoo elementry school????????????
Did you go to Khajoo as well?
I did attend "Kaajoo" in my first grade!!!
HOLY MOLY! you just took me back to ...........ehem ehem! .........few years ago!!!!!!!!LOL
I'm going to send you an e-mail, like.......RIGHT NOW!
Thank you for sharing this
by goli (not verified) on Fri Jul 25, 2008 05:02 PM PDTThank you for sharing this great man's birthday with the readers of Iranian.com. Give him a big kiss for me and thank him for his service to our country.
To the few good men & women ..Thank You
by samsam1111 on Fri Jul 25, 2008 04:34 PM PDTSouri Khanoom: You have a way with kind words.Delneshin ..thank You.
Mona: on Behalf of Samsam Sr I thank you .
Ebi Jan:Thank you You always have the right line for any occasion.thx pal!
Majid-eh bacheh mahal: Aghayee. Mercy and thx for reminding me on Chahar-raheh vosough ..thats where Khjoo geda school was..
Jamshid aziz:thank you & J jan don,t make me feel guilty..I haven,t gone back home since I moved here..always new excuses..but now being in a bussines that needs me every day(literaly) and being a single Dad makes it even worse.my dad/mom visit me every couple of years though..I am a bad boy I know. I might try next yr God willing.
Mr/Ms Mac
by samsam1111 on Fri Jul 25, 2008 04:10 PM PDTJust a few pointers to clear out the smoke..1st some general purpose facts on the ground; I didn,t do any research on the timing or conversion of latin/iranian calender for exact yr or date..I believe it was end of august of 1953 that my dad got arrested..and here i put it as 1952..my mistake...from what I remember 2 days after the so called coup d etat by General Zahedi which makes it 21st of august 1953, a Jeep with 2 MP and another officer came to our house & asked my Dad to go with them to Ghasr padegan charged with refusal to lead his soldiers out of the Barracks to some city blocks close to parliament building(Majlis) on Aug 19 1953 /28 mordad I think..He stayed in ghasr for a while and then was transfered to Falak-ol-Aflak . as you know there where already couple hundreds who got killed or hurt in prior year on 30th Tir 1952 by Army & my Dad for good or bad didn,t feel right to confront civilians with armed units. So as you see Not only He refused a direct command but also was charged with aiding pro mossadegh officers network..He had amassed a few enemies in higher ranks for his vocal resistance to their corrupt ways..for example ((among some of his duties he was to oversea the operation in Bashgaheh Afsaran(Officers club) at odd times and some officers wanted to lease the club to friends for personal parties and make cash which my father refused to allow or participate in it))..so this was a great timing for them to load up on his charges..
now back to your question Mac:
There were over 500 officers who were charged with being pro mossadegh along with (if i,m not mistaken) 100 or so Tudeh communist Officers..the original charge for most of them was treason which carries a death sentence..just as Mr mossadegh original charge was treason too and prosecutore asked for death sentence (and later downgraded) and actualy did in the case of Mr fatemi who was killed by firing squad. So quite a few of these officers charges were not downgraded until only the last few weeks of heading to trial. I agree that you might misunderstand my writing as confirmation of pro mossadegh officers being executed..that wasn,t my intention..what I meant was that while in Jail He saw and heard of many names during that period who got their sentences stayed and were executed. I failed to clarify which groups they belonged to. My fathers military counsil once told my uncle that the reason that his original sentence was not downgraded sooner like most other pro mossadegh officers was that a few high ranking officers in Tehran had a personal beef with him.after correct conversion of calender..his trial comes to 1955 not 1954 as stated before..
Regards
صمصام
MajidFri Jul 25, 2008 03:31 PM PDT
صمصام عزیز.
۱- تولد "بابا" مبارک.
۲- افرادی مثل ایشون "پدر" خیلی از ماها هستن.
۳- یادت نره تولد صد و بیست سالگی ایشون رو اعلام کنی.
با احترام
Happy brithday
by jamshid on Fri Jul 25, 2008 02:59 PM PDTSamsam, do you have the opportunity to visit your father? Just curious.
Happy Bday " Jenaab Sargord" !!
by ebi amirhosseini on Fri Jul 25, 2008 02:36 PM PDTاز پور شهربان به پور ارتشتار
اورمزد نگاهبانش باد
Are you sure?
by Mac Historian (not verified) on Fri Jul 25, 2008 02:18 PM PDTMr Samsam
With all due respect to your father, there seems to be a historical error in your article or perhaps it is not preperly explained. I quote:
" ... And he didn't lie when in 1952 as a young Captain was charged by military court to belong to a pro Mossadegh officers network & spent, 2.5 years in "ghaleh Falak-ol-Aflack " Army jail in Khoram-abad waiting in line to get a death sentence by firing squad as He watched many of his ranks did on a weekly basis.... "
Are you suggesting that some officers were shot for being supporters of Dr Mossadegh? To my knowledge NO army officer was shot for belonging to a pro-Mossadegh group or network. Sure, there were officers who belonged to the Pisheh-vari's Stalinist movement who were court-marshalled and shot and also there were 27 officers (including one civilian) who were executed by the orders of a military court in 1954-55 after the Tudeh Party's military organization was discovered. But NONE for being pro-Mosadegh!
If this was the case I would like to see the evidence please.
Happy 87th Birthday ...
by Mona 19 on Fri Jul 25, 2008 08:36 AM PDTThey are indeed great story tellers...I always enjoyed listening to my grandpa telling me about his youth and how he decided to come to Tehran and later met my grandma,...all those summer I could sit beside him for hours listening to him....I always enjoyed my grandparents companies,and sometimes I feel I missed them more tham my parents.
Best wishes to you and your dear family particularly Mr Samsam Sr :)
Regards,Mona ;)
Happy Birth Day to your father, this great man...
by Souri on Fri Jul 25, 2008 07:00 AM PDTHe has an amazing personality. We had lots of good men like your father, in the past. He stayed true to his belief and to his country. My complement to you for having him as your father....
About his weakness for women :0) well...Like father, like son !
Cheers,