"It was an old army truck, a ‘Vejtřaska’, and it was assigned to me in case we had to move—and then we really did have to move. We had to pump up the tires because it had been sitting there for a year. Pump the tires, fold the canvas cover, and inside was a dental office - so it was all geared up. So, if there was no electricity, one soldier would sit on a kind of pedal wheel, and it was geared—just like back in the First Republic—with gears and transmissions, and it was geared in such a way that if someone really needed urgent dental work, the pedaling would power the drill. It might make you cry a bit, but it would get the job done. You wouldn't be walking around with a toothache... And if there was electricity, it worked like a normal dental unit. But if not—well, it was combat conditions, field conditions."
"They stole our diesel. And since they stole my diesel, because we normally had this long inflatable tent, it was a top, where they were fixing cars and everything. They stole our diesel and the next day I went on duty. The service in front of me, two guys, they got some treat, some praise, some watch or something and they went to Knin, which was the capital of Krajina Srpska. They went to Knin for a gala dinner. Well, and we were going on duty after them the next day, so I thought, well, that's good, because if they retaliate, we're just on the chopping block here. So we'd go there, and then it would get dark, and we'd have to keep going around. And that's where the hedgehog incident happened. I kept hearing this shush and shush on the concrete. So I didn't know if it was a provocation or not. So there I was with bated breath around the corner of the house until I peeked out and I saw the hedgehog with his paw in a jam jar, because we were there handing it out to the little kids. We had a lot of food, so we gave the biscuits, the yoghurt, the little marmalades to the kids and they would hollow it out and throw it away. And the hedgehog, stupid, stepped on it with his paw and walked on the concrete. I thought it was my last hour. As they say, you can hear your breath and your heartbeat, so that's what I experienced."
"We were prepared and the commanders told us how it was going to be. Mine even came to me and told me that I was his driver and that he hoped I wouldn't do anything stupid because we were going past my hometown, past Hamry, Stráž pod Ralskem. So they announced it to us, we were already ready in our black jackets and I had already written a letter for my parents in my pocket, so they blew us, as they say, we jumped into the tanks and drove towards Mimoň from Rakovník. So through Slaný, a hard journey, a hard journey. Now it was December, so like cold, me in marching position, the commander up there too, and the wind was circulating. We had a brown army scarf that was hard as plaster after a while, so we always switched where it was softer. So we got as far as Mimoň, and that was December 8, 1980. That was, as I said, the radio announcement that John Lennon had been murdered in New York. Then we stayed overnight and we drove again all the way up to Zabriskie just past Osečná here and we were stopped there and the Warsaw Pact got an echo from NATO that as soon as the Warsaw Pact entered Poland, NATO troops would come out of the Baltic and go against them. As the commander said, they would 'kick our ass'."
Rudolf Věchet was born on June 24, 1960 in Česká Lípa. He lived his whole life in Stráž pod Ralskem, where as a young boy he experienced the seizure of the castle by the Soviet army after the August 1968 occupation and the subsequent massive arrival of new inhabitants to the town, connected with the opening of uranium mines in the vicinity. He spent his military service first in Martin, Slovakia, and later in Rakovník with the tankers. Here he also took part in Operation Krkonoše in December 1980. After returning to civilian life, he joined the uranium mines as a miner, where he worked in various positions until 1991. He devoted his whole life to his great hobby, which was football. As an active player, he took up an offer to play in a lower German competition, but after bureaucratic problems he had to return home. In 1993, he received a proposal from his brother to participate in the UNPROFOR peacekeeping military mission in the then Yugoslavia. He accepted the offer and went to serve in Plitvice Lakes and later in Klapavice and Karlovac. Here he was tasked with protecting civilians from armed attacks by hostile ethnic groups. After six months of service, he returned to the Czech Republic. He rejoined the uranium mines and took up football again, mainly as a coach, leading several local teams to regional success. At the time of filming (2024) he was living in Stráž pod Ralskem.
Hrdinové 20. století odcházejí. Nesmíme zapomenout. Dokumentujeme a vyprávíme jejich příběhy. Záleží vám na odkazu minulých generací, na občanských postojích, demokracii a vzdělávání? Pomozte nám!
