Donald Currie Caskie DD OBE OCF (22 May 1902 – 27 December 1983) was a minister in the Church of Scotland, best known for his work in France during World War II. He was a member of the Pat O’Leary escape line which helped up to 500 Allied sailors, soldiers and airmen to escape from occupied France (mainly through Spain). [Other sources credit him with helping up to 2000.]
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”. In his autobiography The Tartan Pimpernel he states that ‘he had been called to Paris in 1935.’ (For a full description of Caskie in Wikipedia, click here.)
Other Sources About Donald Caskie
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- STV TV, June 13, 2021: “Paris pays tribute to Scots war here the ‘Tartan Pimpernel'”: https://news.stv.tv/scotland/paris-pays-tribute-to-scots-war-hero-the-tartan-pimpernel.
- The PAT Line (Pat O’Leary line): https://airforceescape.org/escape-lines/pat-pat-oleary-line/
- Church of Scotland: “Hero minister who helped airmen escape prison honoured”: https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/news-and-events/news/2019/articles/kirk-minister-who-helped-raf-men-escape-through-a-sewer-honoured
- “An Irishman’s Diary on Donald Caskie, the ‘Tartan Pimpernel'”, The Irish Times, Dec. 19, 2021: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-on-donald-caskie-the-tartan-pimpernel-1.4019940
- Church of Scotland news, June 11, 2021: https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/news-and-events/news/2021/articles/tartan-pimpernel-war-hero-minister-honoured-in-paris
- Undiscovered Scotland: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/c/donaldcaskie.html
- Amazon book, The Tartan Pimpernel, by Donald Caskie : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009YP95YE/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
- Big Red Book: https://www.bigredbook.info/donald_caskie.html
- “Church war hero ‘the Tartan Pimpernel” honoured in France: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-50187889
- Donald Caskie: https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Donald_Caskie
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2440074.The_Tartan_Pimpernel
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