Donald Caskie

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The Rev Dr Donald Caskie was a minister in the Church of Scotland, best known for his exploits in France during World War II, during which he helped an estimated 2,000 Allied sailors, soldiers and airman to escape from occupied France (mainly through Spain). The 'Fasti' - the record of all Church of Scotland ministers since the Reformation - simply mentions that he was "engaged in church and patriotic duties in France, 1939-1945".

The son of a crofter, he was born in Bowmore on the Isle of Islay in 1902. He was educated at Bowmore School, Dunoon Grammar School and then studied Arts and Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. His first charge was at Gretna, before becoming the minister of the Scots Kirk in Paris in 1938.

Having denounced the evils of Nazism from the pulpit, following the German invasion of France in 1940 Caskie had to flee from Paris. Instead of trying to return home (as strongly advised by staff at the Church of Scotland Offices in Edinburgh) he fled south, eventually ending up in Marseilles on the French south coast (having refused the opportunity of a place on the last ship to Britain leaving Bayonne). At the British Seamen’s Mission in Marseilles Caskie set up a refuge for stranded Britons. He would even send telegrams to the Church of Scotland offices in Edinburgh informing them of the number of British service personnel who had escaped. With the help of Lt-Cmdr Pat O'Leary RN (later awarded the George Cross), British Intelligence, local clergyman Pastor Heuzy, the American consular authorities and others, Caskie helped many Allied service personnel to flee France.

Caskie came under the suspicion of the Vichy France and German authorities, but it was a fellow Briton who betrayed him. Pastor Heuzy was amongst many to be executed. Lack of evidence saved Caskie’s life for the first time; instead he received a suspended prison sentence and was ordered to leave Marseilles. This was partly helped by Caskie’s ability to speak Gaelic, confounding his interrogators.

Caskie headed for Grenoble, acting as chaplain amongst the captured British soldiers. The Nazis had ordered that all British-born civilians in the occupied countries be interned in Germany. In a calculated risk, Caskie managed to influence the Italian camp commandant to release civilians. Caskie was arrested again and this time put on trial and sentenced to death. Awaiting execution by firing squad, Caskie asked to see a pastor. This saved his life; the German army padre Hans Helmut Peters appealed to Berlin to spare Caskie. He then spent the rest of the war in a Prisoner of War camp, resuming his ministry in Paris after the war. He was awarded the OBE and also honoured by the French government for his wartime service.

The Scots Kirk in Paris had been unused throughout the war; lack of maintenance led to the church having to be rebuilt during the 1950s. To help pay for the rebuilding, in 1957 his autobiographical account of his extraordinary wartime activities were published as The Tartan Pimpernel. The 1950s building proved to have serious defects and had to be again rebuilt in the late 1990s, Caskie's book being again reissued (Birlinn Ltd, Edinburgh).

The Rev Dr Donald Caskie OBE DD MA OCF finally returned to Scotland in 1961 to become minister at Wemyss Bay and Skelmorlie on the Firth of Clyde. He retired to Edinburgh in 1968 and lived the final year of his life with his younger brother in Greenock. He died in 1983 and is buried at Bowmore on his native Isle of Islay. Various personal artefacts, including his wartime medals, can be seen at Kilarrow Parish Church, Bowmore.

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