‘Tartan Pimpernel’ war hero minister honoured in Paris
A CHURCH of Scotland minister nicknamed the Tartan Pimpernel who helped orchestrate the safe return of about 2,000 men from occupied France during the Second World War has been honoured in Paris.
Rev Dr Donald Caskie is commemorated on a marble plaque erected on the exterior wall of the Scots Kirk on La Rue Bayard, where he was the minister 81 years ago.
About 100 people attended the unveiling ceremony on Thursday including local church members and representatives from Mairie de Paris (Paris City Hall) and the Scottish Government.
Bagpiper Francis Sykes greeted guests with renditions of Auld Lang Syne, Flower of Scotland, Highland Cathedral, Scotland the Brave, and The Skye Boat Song.
Local school pupils read aloud in English and French extracts from Dr Caskie’s book, The Tartan Pimpernel, which tells how he fearlessly worked with the French Resistance to help trapped or imprisoned airmen, seamen and soldiers escape Nazi-occupied France.
The plaque was unveiled by Jeanne d’Hauteserre and Laurence Patrice of Mairie de Paris.
The commemoration project was led by Derek Bonin-Bree, an elder at the Scots Kirk, with the support of other office-bearers and minister Rev Jan Steyn who said the war hero’s faith “spurred him on to oppose injustice, intolerance and tyranny”.
They were supported by the Scottish Government’s office in Paris in their mission to persuade Paris City Hall to allow the installation of a commemorative plaque.
Dr Caskie was the minister at the Scots Kirk when the Germans invaded France in 1940 and frequently denounced the Nazis from the pulpit which meant he had more to fear than many after the invasion.
He was repeatedly urged to return home and after the Dunkirk evacuation he locked the church on June 9 of that year to join the mass exodus of Paris, heading south.
The crofter’s son from the inner Hebridean island of Islay, said to have had the Celtic gift of second sight, endured weeks of hardship to get to Bayonne but in the end rejected the chance of safe passage on the last ship bound for the UK on the grounds that his place should be given to a wounded man instead.
He walked to a village called Cambo les Bains where he met friends from Paris purely by chance and they all drove to the port city of Marseille – leaving just hours before the Germans arrived.
Dr Caskie believed that God had commanded him to stay in
France and help stranded British subjects, and he was warned that he must only engage with civilians and would be arrested if he assisted servicemen.
He ran a seamen’s mission but was living a double life and secretly helped airmen, seamen and soldiers, under the noses of the Vichy police, escape the country across mountains into Spain or by sea in a submarine or ship.
Dr Caskie, who was a Gaelic speaker whose codename was Monsieur Le Canard – Donald Duck – was eventually recruited by British Intelligence officers and told that his mission was the last link of a chain of safe houses that they had set up, which stretched from Dunkirk to Marseille.
Reflecting on Dr Caskie’s legacy, Mr Steyn said: “We see heroism but he saw his duty as a Christian.
“He helps us renew with strong values of selflessness, kindness and devotion.
“His story still is an inspiration to us all.”