This woven tapestry is dedicated to Captain John Sheardown, CM.
John Vernon Sheardown was born in October 1924 in Sandwich, Ontario near Windsor. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force at age 18 and flew scores of Lancaster bomber runs in the Second World War. After one run, he barely managed to limp his flack-riddled plane back to England. With the Lancaster losing power, he told his crew to bail out. He tried to wrestle the aircraft under control before opting to leap at the last minute. His chute barely had time to open and he broke both legs upon impact.
After the war, he joined Canada’s Foreign Service and worked for a short period in Ottawa before being posted to the Canadian High Commission in London, England. He had several overseas postings (Glasgow, New Delhi and Los Angeles) including Teheran, Iran (1978 – 1980) as a First Secretary at the Canadian Embassy at the time of the revolution. In November 1979, Mr. Sheardown played a crucial role in the rescue of six American diplomats and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1980. He died on December 30, 2012 at the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre in Ottawa.
The tapestry was donated to the Perley Rideau by Ron Hodgeson and Peter Dalton to the foundation Managing Director Daniel Clapin. Ambassador Ken Taylor during the 1979 "Canadian Caper" in Iraq later described John Sheardown: "He was a Canadian who not only was brave, heroic and an example of valour in the Canadian military during the Second World War, but then was a model public servant during peacetime."
