Cornerstone No. 189, page 19
was English, he replied “No sir, I am Scottish.” He then went on to underline
the value of the Franco-Scottish alliance and how he was part of it! His sentence
was, of course ‘guilty’, but for only two years in jail. Donald Caskie was then
transferred to Grenoble (not far from neutral Switzerland).
In Grenoble, DC’s
work continued. For two years he was a University
Chaplain there until the Gestapo came bashing on his door. He was moved to
Nice, thence to Fresnes Prison, to the south of Paris where, after a ‘mock’ trial,
he was sentenced to death. Now, a question: whose side is God on––?? Look
at this: Donald Caskie was to face a firing squad BUT a German Army Padre
intervened. Hans-Helmut Peters, so impressed by the comportment and
expression of faith shown by GS66, appealed to Berlin and the death sentenced
was commuted. By this time Caskie had been instrumental in over-seeing the
liberation of 500 servicemen and some 1’500 civilians. For the duration, Donald
C. saw out the war in a POW camp where he saw to the spiritual needs of his
fellow prisoners. By the end of hostilities, he felt the need to go back to Scotland
and there he became a
when he penned the tale of his war-time
.
experiences in his book
Here, the story ends not, for the Rev. Caskie’s heart was till partly in ‘Gay Paree’
for it was there that, with much of the royalties from his best-seller, he financed
the rebuilding of the Kirk in Paris (in fact, it had to be renovated twice and
Caskie footed the bill each time). He was, for a time, Chaplain of the Caledonian
Society of France. On August 24th 1959, Donald Caskie was the subject of
on the BBC. One of the guests was the aforementioned Hans-
Helmut Peters – tears flowed (and why not?). By then Caskie had become quite
celebrated. However, we do not finish with a happy ending. Returning to
Scotland in the 1960s, the reverend gentleman ministered at Old Gourock
Wemyss Bay, Skelmorlie and finally at St. Cuthbert’s at Monkton. Well, ‘nothing
sad about that’ I hear you utter but this subject lived out a lonely life, moving
from the Royal Scots Club to various bed-and-breakfast hostels before finding
a permanent spot with his brother Tom in Greenock. His last resting place is
(very fittingly) Kilarrow Church (the ‘round’ one) on Islay. There you can inspect
The Reverend Caskie’s World War II medals and relax in Donald Caskie Square,
named in honour of the great man. The Rev. Dr. Donald Currie Caskie DD, OBE,
OCF died in Greenock on December 27th, 1983.
Next Cornerstone deadline
14 th January 2018