THE return of a Gaelic Bible to the Scots Kirk in Paris is a fitting epilogue to the story of a gentle but determined minister whose heroic feats during the Second World War saw him dubbed the Tartan Pimpernel. In 1935, Islay-born Donald Caskie left his quiet country parish of Gretna for the French capital, which he quickly came to love, but which was soon engulfed in the horrors of Nazi occupation.
As the dreaded invading force approached, the Scot took solace in a sprig of white Islay heather that he’d placed on the vestibule table, but could sense the chill that even the sun failed to dispel in the surrounding city.
Undaunted, Rev Dr Caskie worked under the nose of the Vichy regime to get more than 2,000 Allied service personnel out of occupied Europe, until he was betrayed by a traitor, interrogated by the Gestapo and sentenced to death. Reprieved, he spent the rest of the conflict as a Prisoner of War.
His is the remarkable story of a humble man whose faith was strengthened by peril and who, without personal hatred, simply adapted to circumstances and got on with doing the best he could for others.
His Bible contained his moral compass. Now it finds its way back to France, where it will bear witness to the story of a true hero whose unflinching faith and compassion brought out all that is most noble in the human spirit.
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