Britain’s Captain Tom Moore, the World War II veteran who lifted a nation’s spirits by raising millions for health service workers battling the coronavirus, died yesterday aged 100 after he contracted Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.
He struck a chord with locked-down Britain by walking around his garden with the help of a frame to raise £38.9mn ($53mn) for the National Health Service (NHS).
His endeavour and wit spread joy amid the grim news of the coronavirus outbreak: Moore’s message to the world was that the sun would shine again and that the clouds would clear.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our dear father, Captain Sir Tom Moore,” his daughters said in a statement following his death yesterday morning at Bedford Hospital in central England.
Over the last five years, he had been receiving treatment for prostate and skin cancer, his family said.
He was fighting pneumonia and was taken to hospital after testing positive for Covid-19 on January 22, unable to be vaccinated due to the other medication he was taking.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Queen Elizabeth led the tributes to Moore, whose exploits won global admiration.
“Captain Tom Moore was a hero in the truest sense of the word,” said Johnson. “He became not just a national inspiration but a beacon of hope for the world.”
The flag above his Downing Street office was lowered to half-mast in Moore’s honour.
The queen, who knighted Moore at Windsor Castle last summer in recognition of his efforts, will send a message of private condolence to the family, Buckingham Palace said, adding the 94-year-old monarch had “very much enjoyed meeting Captain Sir Tom”.
When Moore, dressed in a blazer and tie, started his sponsored walk at his home in the village of Marston Moretaine, 80km (50 miles) north of London, he hoped to raise £1,000.
He set a goal of completing 100 lengths of his 25m (82’) garden in Marston Moretaine, between Bedford and Milton Keynes in southern England, by the time of his 100th birthday.
But his walk captured the public’s imagination and the donations kept rolling in, so much so his JustGiving webpage crashed.
Such was his fame that his 100th birthday was marked by a message from Johnson, a promotion to the rank of colonel and flypasts by both historic planes and modern RAF helicopters above his home.
He received more than 125,000 birthday cards from well-wishers around the world and became the oldest person to reach number one in Britain’s main music singles chart, featuring on a cover version of You’ll Never Walk Alone.
“I never, ever anticipated ever in my life anything like this, it really is amazing,” Moore said when he turned 100 on April 30. “Thank you very much to everyone, wherever you are.”
Moore found words to cheer up the British public during lockdown, his status as a war veteran adding to his standing.
“For all those people who are finding it difficult at the moment, the sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away,” he said after completing his sponsored walk. “You’ve all got to remember that we will get through it in the end, it will all be right, it might take time. At the end of the day we shall all be OK again.”
“In the last war, it was soldiers in uniform on the front line,” Moore said at the time. “This time our army are the doctors and nurses (in) uniforms. We will survive this.”