cashiering

Image:Degradation alfred dreyfus.jpg on January 5, 1895]]

Cashiering (or degradation ceremony), generally within military forces, is a ritual dismissal of an individual from some position of responsibility for a breach of discipline.

Etymology

From the Flemish {{lang|nl-BE|kasseren}} (to dismiss from service; to discard [troops]),{{cite web |url=https://www.ensie.nl/oosthoek/casseren-kasseren |title=casseren (kasseren) |date=4 July 2019|website=www.ensie.nl |publisher=Stichting Ensie Encyclopedie |access-date=20 July 2022}} the word entered the English language in the late 16th century, during the wars in the Low Countries.

Military

File:Galons arrachés à Alfred Dreyfus le jour de sa dégradation.jpg, kept in Paris's Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme]]

It is especially associated with the public degradation of disgraced military officers. Prior to World War I, this aspect of cashiering sometimes involved a parade-ground ceremony in front of assembled troops with the destruction of symbols of status: epaulettes ripped off shoulders, badges and insignia stripped, swords broken, caps knocked away, and medals torn off and dashed upon the ground.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

In the era when British Army officers generally bought their commissions, being cashiered meant that the amount they had paid was lost, as they could not "sell-out" afterwards.{{cite book |last=Holmes |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Holmes (military historian) |title=Redcoat: the British soldier in the age of horse and musket |orig-year=2001 |edition=Hardback |year=2001 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=0-00-257097-1 |chapter= Chapter III - Brothers of the Blade|page=159 }}

Notable examples

Famous victims of cashiering include Francis Mitchell (1621), Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald (after the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814), Justus McKinstry, Alfred Dreyfus (1894, see trial and conviction of Alfred Dreyfus and Dreyfus affair), and Philippe Pétain (1945, stripped of all ranks and honors except Marshal of France).{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

William Calley, the sole person convicted of the My Lai Massacre, was cashiered out instead of receiving a punitive discharge.

Following the failure of the 1935 Greek coup d'état attempt, Lieutenant Colonel Christodoulos Tsigantes, his brother captain Ioannis Tsigantes, colonel Stefanos Sarafis and other participants of the coup were cashiered in a public ceremony.{{cite news |title=Δημόσια καθαίρεση αξιωματικών του κινήματος 1ης Μαρτίου|trans-title=Public cashiering of the officers of the 1 March coup|language=Greek|url=https://www.kathimerini.gr/k/100yk/1017310/dimosia-kathairesi-axiomatikon-toy-kinimatos-1is-martioy/#pages-1 |work=Kathimerini|access-date=4 May 2021 |date=3 April 1935 }}

While most closely associated with Captain Dreyfus, the ceremony of formal degradation ({{langx|fr|Dégradation militaire}}) occurred several times in the French military under the Third Republic. At least one other army officer and a naval officerLe Petit Journal, Supplement Illustrate, Page 1 Numero 918, 21 June 1908 were subjected to the ritual of having their swords broken and the insignia, braid and buttons publicly torn from their uniforms, after being found guilty of charges of treason. More commonly, a number of NCOs and private soldiers underwent similar punishments for committing various serious offenses, before execution or imprisonment.{{cite book |first=Jean-Louis |last=Larcade |page=529 |title=Zouaves & Tirailleurs: les regiments de march et les regiments mixes (1914–1918) |year=2000 |publisher=Argonautes |isbn=2-9515171-1-4 }}

The physical acts of ripping away insignia and breaking swords could be made easier by some prior preparation. A contemporary account in The New York Times of the Dreyfus cashiering in 1894 says:

To prepare for stripping the prisoner of his insignia of rank, the prison tailor yesterday removed all the buttons and stripes from Dreyfus' tunic, the red stripes from his trousers and the regimental number and braid from his collar and cap. These were all replaced with a single stitch so that they could be torn away readily. The condemned man's sword was also filed almost in two, in order that it might be easily broken. The Adjutant's quick movement and apparent effort in breaking the sword was consequently mere pretense, as only a mere touch was necessary.{{cite news |author= |title=Degradation of Dreyfus: Intensely Humiliating Punishment of a Convicted Officer. (p. 5) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/01/06/archives/degradation-of-dreyfus-intensely-humiliating-punishment-of-a.html |work=The New York Times |date=6 January 1895 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.bnd.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/answer-man/article118431743.html |title=Breaking the sword of a military man? Thanks to a trick, it's a snap |last=Schlueter |first=Roger |date=2 December 2016 |website=www.bnd.com |publisher=Belleville News-Democrat |access-date=23 February 2020}}

In the 1964 film Mary Poppins, Mr Banks is cashiered when he is fired from the bank.{{Cite book |first=Richard |last=Sherman |title=Songs from Walt Disney's Mary Poppins |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6AFJVtJSYTUC&q=poppins+%22cashiered%22 |publisher=Wonderland Music |year=1964}} This involved his flower carnation torn from his lapel, his umbrella being turned inside out and his bowler hat being punched through.{{cite web | url=https://www.ft.com/content/56282f68-96f1-11dd-8cc4-000077b07658 | title=The supercalifragilistic answer }}

In the 1942 Bugs Bunny short, Fresh Hare, Bugs cashiers Elmer Fudd as a disgrace to the Royal Canadian Mounties by tearing away not just his uniform and insignias, but also his undershorts.

References

Category:Military life

cashiering

Etymology

Military

Notable examples

See also

References