His colleagues knew him as a big man with a small ego. His friends won’t forget that great sense of humour, while his family will remember him most as a loving “gentle giant” who loved his cowboy boots and westernwear.
Those closest to Calgarian James Edward, who passed away on April 1 at age 66 from complications due to cancer, know one other thing about the man that until now has eluded his fellow citizens.
Jim, as he liked people to call him, was a key figure in an important moment in our nation’s history — a hero who put his life on the line to assist our closest allies, the United States of America.
Anyone over the age of 40 will remember well the events of Nov. 4, 1979, when a mob of Iranian university students and supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini stormed the American Embassy in Tehran, taking 54 embassy personnel hostage.
On Jan. 20, 1981, those hostages were released — and the story of Canada’s involvement in the crisis began to surface.
The Canadians kept safe six U.S. diplomats who had escaped the siege for six months before being evacuated from Iran.
It would later come to light that Ken Taylor, the Canadian ambassador to Iran, had, with assistance, provided the U.S. with information on the situation over those 444 days, along with conducting surveillance on the American Embassy and providing intelligence to their U.S. counterparts in aid of Eagle Claw, the name for what would be an ill-fated rescue mission by U.S. commandos.
While some Canadians over the years have criticized our embassy’s role in providing this information to the Americans — along with Taylor allowing a CIA agent to work out of the Canadian Embassy during this time — many more call it Canada’s finest hour, helping out an ally when lives were in jeopardy and international law was being violated.
Upon his return home, Taylor, a native of Calgary, was celebrated by both countries, receiving the Order of Canada and, from Washington, the Congressional Gold Medal ....
