The Reverend, Dr. Donald Caskie - the so-called Tartan Pimpernel - was a Church of Scotland minister from Islay, his birthplace, who preached in Paris, and earned his nickname by helping thousands of British servicemen escape from Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War. Having fled to Marseilles, Caskie aided the escape of 2,000 men - two-thirds of all those who escaped the Nazis -by supplying them with forged identity papers, maps and compasses.
Caskie spoke Gaelic to confuse German spies and inquisitors, but was betrayed by an English double agent. He evaded the firing squad and then restarted his activities in Grenoble. There he again repeatedly escaped the clutches of the Nazis until he was sentenced to death - when the intervention of a German pastor had his sentence commuted and he saw out the war in a PoW camp.
His awards were: OBE, MA and O.C.F.(an honour bestowed by the French government). The OBE (Order of the British Empire) was awarded by the king for services to his country. The medal, along with other personal artefactcs, is on display in the church.His autobiography, The Tartan Pimpernel was published in 1951.
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.The family name was McCaskie which surname is recorded for Donald and his siblings' baptisms, and their parents marriage, in the OPR for Bowmore/Kilarrow Parish.
Caskie spoke Gaelic to confuse German spies and inquisitors, but was betrayed by an English double agent. He evaded the firing squad and then restarted his activities in Grenoble. There he again repeatedly escaped the clutches of the Nazis until he was sentenced to death - when the intervention of a German pastor had his sentence commuted and he saw out the war in a PoW camp.
His awards were: OBE, MA and O.C.F.(an honour bestowed by the French government). The OBE (Order of the British Empire) was awarded by the king for services to his country. The medal, along with other personal artefactcs, is on display in the church.His autobiography, The Tartan Pimpernel was published in 1951.
-------------
.The family name was McCaskie which surname is recorded for Donald and his siblings' baptisms, and their parents marriage, in the OPR for Bowmore/Kilarrow Parish.
The Reverend, Dr. Donald Caskie - the so-called Tartan Pimpernel - was a Church of Scotland minister from Islay, his birthplace, who preached in Paris, and earned his nickname by helping thousands of British servicemen escape from Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War. Having fled to Marseilles, Caskie aided the escape of 2,000 men - two-thirds of all those who escaped the Nazis -by supplying them with forged identity papers, maps and compasses.
Caskie spoke Gaelic to confuse German spies and inquisitors, but was betrayed by an English double agent. He evaded the firing squad and then restarted his activities in Grenoble. There he again repeatedly escaped the clutches of the Nazis until he was sentenced to death - when the intervention of a German pastor had his sentence commuted and he saw out the war in a PoW camp.
His awards were: OBE, MA and O.C.F.(an honour bestowed by the French government). The OBE (Order of the British Empire) was awarded by the king for services to his country. The medal, along with other personal artefactcs, is on display in the church.His autobiography, The Tartan Pimpernel was published in 1951.
-------------
.The family name was McCaskie which surname is recorded for Donald and his siblings' baptisms, and their parents marriage, in the OPR for Bowmore/Kilarrow Parish.
Caskie spoke Gaelic to confuse German spies and inquisitors, but was betrayed by an English double agent. He evaded the firing squad and then restarted his activities in Grenoble. There he again repeatedly escaped the clutches of the Nazis until he was sentenced to death - when the intervention of a German pastor had his sentence commuted and he saw out the war in a PoW camp.
His awards were: OBE, MA and O.C.F.(an honour bestowed by the French government). The OBE (Order of the British Empire) was awarded by the king for services to his country. The medal, along with other personal artefactcs, is on display in the church.His autobiography, The Tartan Pimpernel was published in 1951.
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.The family name was McCaskie which surname is recorded for Donald and his siblings' baptisms, and their parents marriage, in the OPR for Bowmore/Kilarrow Parish.
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