Roland (Roley) Eggleston, RFE/RL's correspondent in Budapest, Hungary, was in that city on December 22, 1989, when word reached him of the developing events in Romania, He telephoned a Hungarian-Romanian-speaking interpreter and asked her to accompany him to Romania. Below is his exciting eye-witness account of the battle for Timisoara, Romania December 22-25, 1989 -- adapted from the January 1990 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in-house publication Shortwaves.
At the border we discovered most of the crossings were closed. From the radio, my interpreter learned there was one post not far away, which was still open. We quickly drove there. I identified myself as a Radio Free Europe journalist. The officer in charge was dubious and twice searched the car thoroughly. A second soldier jumped around us excitedly, convinced we were bringing assistance for the revolution. I paid 53 DM and finally received an entry visa in my passport, but the officer cautioned us that there was still shooting taking place on the roads.
Without further incident we drove to the nearest city, Arad, and found our way to the center square. It was now dark. I witnessed an amazing scene: the square was crowded with people, all kneeling, with candles, reciting the Lord's Prayer. Although we were told there had been no incidents, and that a single member of the dreaded Securitate was tied up in the local town hall, gunfire broke out in the square as we departed Arad.
The road to Timisoara was clear, and in total darkness, without the aid of street lights, we made our way to the center of the city. I thought 1 must have become hardened from movies or television, as the scene which then unfolded seemed to be unreal. We had just parked in the square when a firefight began between the Securitate and the Romanian army. Together with my interpreter, we had to lie face down in the street as bullets struck around us.
The most frightening aspects of the battle were helicopters, which hovered overhead, manned by the Securitate, shooting indiscriminately at anything that moved.
At nearly all intersections barricades had been thrown up and manned by civilians with armbands. At one such barricade, I asked for help in making my way to the city hospital, where I knew much of the story of the battle of Timisoara was taking place. I again identified himself as a correspondent for RFE. This was greeted with cheers and praise, and shouts that, "You're the only ones who told us the truth!"
A burly man in civilian clothes offered to take us through the barricades to the hospital. He was reluctant to go into the building with us, but eventually did so.
We were hardly inside, when a woman doctor began screaming and pointing at this man. People rushed up, pinned back his arms and dragged him away. The doctor said she recognized him as being in the hospital a week earlier, carrying a machine gun and in the company of Securitate, who were hauling away civilians wounded in earlier fighting. 1 never saw him again.
I used a hospital phone to try to call Munich but could not get through. Next to me, on the floor, lay the body of a civilian with his arms outstretched over his head. I couldn't tell whether he had fallen like that or had been shot with his hands in the air. I assumed he was one of the Securitate.
The next day I finally found an international line at the Timisoara police station and was able to telephone my reports to RFE/RL. We stayed overnight in the hospital. The staff, extremely helpful, made beds available and offered us endless cups of hot tea. We ate the same food as the hospital staff; margarine, bread, and cold sausage.
The next day I went to grave sites where the bodies of persons executed had been found. It was a nightmare scene, with many of the bodies mutilated terribly, among them small children.
After three days in Romania, my interpreter and I joined a convoy of automobiles, protected by a Romanian army tank, which made its way out of Timisoara toward the Yugoslav border.
At nearly every small village along the way, local farmers, armed with iron bars and clubs, stopped us despite the army tank escort and searched the cars thoroughly, looking for members of the Securitate. I put my RFE/RL identification to good use on these occasions.
We eventually reached the Yugoslav border and from there to Szeged, where I filed another report to RFE/RL, using the facilities of Hungarian Television, which was quick to cooperate.
Listen here to the battle sounds of Timisoara on December 17, 1989, as broadcast over Radio Free Europe's Romanian Broadcast Service on December 20, 1989, after verification of its authenticity.
In March 1990, Roley Eggleston received one of the first "President's Award for Outstanding Achievement" from then RFE/RL President Gene Pell. The plaque he received read, "For outstanding journalistic achievements covering events in Eastern and Western Europe and for dedication to the mission of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty." In his remarks, president Pell cited Roley's journalistic abilities and his physical courage while reporting on the Romanian Revolution.
Photograph of Timisoara courtesy of The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER). Audio, photograph of Roley Eggleston receiving his award for his reporting, and article adaption courtesy of RFE/RL.
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