Buried donation collectors: British reverence to “Captain Tom”

Great Britain said goodbye to Tom Moore with military honors. In the first wave of the pandemic, he had made donation rounds with his walker. On February 2, the 100-year-old himself died from the corona virus.

The British bid farewell to their pandemic hero Tom Moore, known to many as “Captain Tom”, in an emotional ceremony. Due to measures to contain the corona virus, only eight family members were at the memorial service with military honors in Bedford, East England. The BBC broadcast the event live on television. Thousands of people also expressed their condolences in an online condolence book.

37 million euros raised in donations

Moore became famous when, in the first wave of pandemics, he walked his walker around 100 times in his garden before his 100th birthday, aiming to raise £ 1,000 for the NHS from the National Health Service, which had been under heavy stress. pressure in Corona. crisis. His initiative led millions of people into lockdown and ended with almost £ 33 million (€ 38 million).

Almost overnight he became a national hero. Queen Elizabeth II (94) knighted him last summer.

Then “Captain Tom” infected himself with the corona virus and died on February 2.

Shots salute for veterans of WWII

At Saturday’s funeral, the casket, draped in a Union Jack flag, was carried by six soldiers to the funeral parlor of the crematorium in Bedford. At the same time, gun salutes were fired. A World War II military plane flew over the site. At the beginning of the nonreligious funeral service, the “Captain Toms” version of the soccer anthem “You will never walk alone” was played, with which it broke the charts last year, just one of the late hero’s many triumphs. . He recorded the song with British singer and actor Michael Ball and an NHS choir.

“We enter the heart of the nation”

Several family members paid tribute to Moore as a loving and exemplary father and grandfather. Her daughter Lucy Teixeira said she always encouraged her family members to do their best. “This is what he did last year when he raised a fortune for the NHS by entering the hearts of the nation.”

At the end of the ceremony, a trumpeter said goodbye to Moore with the military signal “Last Post.” His ashes are said to be buried in a family grave in the county of Yorkshire in north-eastern England.