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Time Travels with Truffle: Dateline November 4th,
1979 – Tehran, Iran
It was the morning of November 4, 1979, in Tehran,
Iran.
The city was already awake when Truffle climbed onto a low
wall overlooking a broad avenue near the United States Embassy. Her
owner, a twenty-four-year-old American embassy secretary named Sarah Whitman,
had taken the day off and was still asleep in her apartment several miles away.
What Truffle witnessed that morning would become one of the
most famous international crises of the twentieth century.
Students and revolutionaries began gathering outside the
embassy gates. At first it looked like another demonstration. Since the Iranian
Revolution earlier that year, anti-American protests had become
increasingly common. The overthrow of the Shah and the rise of Ayatollah
Khomeini had transformed Iran, and many revolutionaries viewed the United
States with deep suspicion.
But something felt different.
The crowd kept growing.
The chants became louder.
People carried ladders.
Truffle's ears flattened.
Then she saw the first protesters climbing the walls.
Within moments, hundreds surged forward.
The embassy gates were breached.
Smoke began rising from the compound.
Shouts echoed across the neighborhood.
The little dog knew only one thing: her best friend was in
danger.
Without hesitation, Truffle turned and ran.
She raced through the crowded streets of Tehran.
Cars swerved.
Pedestrians shouted.
The city seemed to vibrate with tension.
Behind her, the crisis was already spiraling out of control.
Inside the embassy, American diplomats and staff were desperately attempting to
secure classified documents and establish communications. Outside, crowds
swarmed the grounds.
The hostage crisis had begun.
But Sarah knew none of this.
She remained asleep.
Several miles away, Truffle reached the apartment building.
She bounded up the stairs two at a time.
The little dog slipped through the dog door and rushed
inside.
Then she raced into the bedroom.
Sarah barely stirred.
Truffle barked.
No response.
She barked again.
Still nothing.
Frantic, the little dog leapt onto the bed and tugged at the
blankets.
Sarah rolled over.
"Not today, Truffle," she muttered.
The dog barked even louder.
She jumped onto the nightstand, knocking a book to the
floor.
The crash finally woke Sarah.
She sat upright.
"What on earth has gotten into you?"
Truffle ran toward the front door.
Then back toward Sarah.
Then toward the door again.
Her message was unmistakable.
Come now.
Minutes later, Sarah switched on a radio.
The reports hit her like a hammer.
The embassy had been overrun.
Americans had been taken hostage.
Roadblocks were appearing throughout the city.
Communications were confused.
Nobody knew how the situation would develop.
Sarah's heart sank.
Had she gone to work that morning, she almost certainly
would have been inside the compound.
And now it was too late to go there safely.
She suddenly realized she was stranded.
An American alone in a city rapidly becoming hostile.
Truffle already seemed to have a plan.
The little dog bolted out the door and headed purposefully
through the streets.
Sarah followed.
They moved quickly through Tehran's neighborhoods. Crowds
were gathering. Rumors raced from person to person. Revolutionary slogans
covered walls and buildings.
Several times Sarah considered turning back.
Each time Truffle stopped, barked impatiently, and continued
onward.
At last the little dog reached the residence of John and
Margaret Sheardown, members of Canada's diplomatic community.
Several American diplomats who escaped capture during the
hostage crisis would ultimately find refuge with Canadian officials in what
later became known as the Canadian Caper.
Sarah knocked anxiously.
The door opened.
Inside was safety.
The world outside grew darker.
Fifty-two Americans remained hostages inside the embassy.
The crisis dominated headlines around the globe.
Every evening television viewers watched images of
blindfolded hostages, angry crowds, and mounting international tension.
President Jimmy Carter searched for a solution.
Negotiations stalled.
Rescue plans were discussed.
The crisis dragged on.
Days became weeks.
Weeks became months.
Months became more than a year.
Inside the Canadian sanctuary, Sarah followed every
development through newspapers and radio broadcasts.
Throughout it all, Truffle remained at her side.
When Sarah was frightened, Truffle curled up beside her.
When uncertainty overwhelmed her, the little dog seemed to
sense it immediately.
She never wandered far away.
Eventually, plans emerged to secretly evacuate several
Americans who had avoided capture.
Under the leadership of CIA officer Tony Mendez, an
extraordinary operation was devised. The hidden Americans would pose as members
of a Canadian film production scouting locations for a science-fiction movie.
The operation succeeded.
Sarah escaped Iran.
Many years later, the story would become famous through
books, documentaries, and the film Argo.
The fifty-two hostages left behind would remain captive for 444
days, finally regaining their freedom on January 20, 1981.
For the rest of her life, Sarah often thought about that
November morning.
Had Truffle not witnessed the attack...
Had Truffle not raced home...
Had Truffle not insisted she wake up and leave
immediately...
Everything might have been different.
She likely would have become one of the hostages.
Instead, she escaped one of the most dramatic international
crises of the century.
Whenever friends asked how she avoided capture, Sarah always
smiled and pointed toward the little reddish-orange Pomeranian lying nearby.
"I thought I rescued her," she would say.
"Turns out she rescued me."
And so, while presidents, revolutionaries, diplomats, and
intelligence officers filled the history books, one small chapter belonged to
Truffle.
On the day the U.S. Embassy fell, she saw danger
approaching, ran through a city in turmoil, and saved her best friend's freedom
before the world even realized what was happening.
And once again, History is gently guided by a tiny paw.
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