1924 – 2022: Former Windsor police chief, Second World War veteran, dies at 98

Article content

From the battlefields of Europe to the streets of Windsor, John Shuttleworth never shied from danger.

Article content

The Second World War veteran and retired Windsor police chief died March 8 at age 98.

As an air force man, he dodged bombs dropped from German planes while returning fire with a rifle. As a police officer, he investigated one of Windsor’s most infamous murders and made history as a member of the department’s first bomb squad.

But Shuttleworth, who went by Jack, was also a devoted family man who never brought his work home and always made it to his grandsons’ hockey and baseball games.

“He was like the best father in the whole, wide world,” said daughter Shirley Ann Shuttleworth, 70. “He was my hero. He was a kind and generous man.”

Shuttleworth died a month after his 98th birthday, leaving behind daughters Shirley Ann, Susan and Jaye, along with two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Article content

Barbara, his wife of 68 years, died in 2014. Born two weeks apart in Feb. 1924, they met in high school. Shirley Ann likes to think they were high school sweethearts, but there’s been some dispute about that.

“I think they were, but my sisters and I were debating this the other day,” she said. “They said she was just one of his girlfriends of him. It wasn’t until he went away during the war that they got serious with each other. We’ve been finding letters and little notes that indicate that.”

Shirley Ann still has the creased telegram her father sent to her mother after learning he was coming home from the war.

“I am feeling fine and seeing a little bit of country but would enjoy it much more if you were here,” it reads.

Shuttleworth grew up during the Depression and went to the former JC Patterson Collegiate Institute. At a hulking six-foot-five, he was a basketball star who had the potential to take it past high school.

Article content

“Unfortunately the war interfered and I decided to do that instead,” said Shirley Ann.

The moment he turned 18, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

“There was a bunch of buddies and some cousins,” said Shirley Ann. “They all signed up at the same time. Dad was the only one that came home.”

At first, Shuttleworth was sent to Sea Island in British Columbia.

“He was playing basketball for the air force team out there,” his daughter said. “They didn’t want to send him over to Europe because he was such a good basketball player.”

But he wasn’t having it.

“He finally had to go to the commanding officer and say, ‘look, if you won’t send me over to Europe, I won’t play basketball anymore,’” said Shirley Ann. “So they felt him.”

Article content

He shipped out in 1943, and spent most of his two-and-a-half years at war stationed at Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Shuttleworth was an armorer, loading plans with bombs.

“He tells some good stories about when the plans came back and the bombs hadn’t released, they had to go in and take them out and deactivate them,” said Shirley Ann. “There was this big bomb sitting in the middle of the airfield and they had to have somebody go out there and disarm it. They’d say, ‘Shuttleworth, you just volunteered.’”

During the Battle of the Airfields, a German attempt to cripple allied air forces on New Year’s Day 1945, Shuttleworth found himself in a foxhole. He was under fire and angry.

“He said they were flying so low he could see their faces,” said Shirley Ann. “At one point he got so mad. He said ‘I just didn’t want to be a sitting duck anymore.’ So he grabbed his rifle and started shooting back. He was chuckling about this not so long ago. He said ‘my rifle couldn’t have hit any one of those plans.”

Article content

When the war ended, Shuttleworth found other ways to serve. He returned to Windsor and joined the police department in 1946. The explosives expertise he brought home from Europe made him a natural fit when Windsor police created their first explosives unit.

He also investigated the 1971 sexual assault and murder of six-year-old Ljubica Topic, a case that went unsolved until December 2019.

“Haunted him the rest of his life,” said Shirley Ann. “We kind of lived it, too. I didn’t say much. Having three girls himself, I think that one hit home really hard. My dad seldom brought work home with him. But that one haunted him.”

Current Chief Pam Mizuno said Tuesday that Shuttleworth served the community with “honour and dedication” for 38 years, including four as chief.

“On behalf of the Windsor Police Service, I want to extend condolences to the family, friends, and co-workers who served alongside retired Chief John Shuttleworth,” she said.

He retired in 1984, devoting his time to two of his greatest joys: fishing and his grandsons.

“He just loved his grandchildren,” said Shirley Ann. “We miss him terribly. I have lived a good long life. He was the best man I ever knew.”

[email protected]