NHS hero Sir Captain Tom Moore dies at 100 after brief coronavirus battle

Captain Sir Tom Moore, the World War Two veteran who raised £39 million for the NHS, has died at the age of 100 after testing positive for Covid-19.
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His daughters Hannah and Lucy confirmed Captain Sir Tom’s death in a statement.

He was admitted to Bedford hospital on Sunday 31 January, after being treated for pneumonia for some time and testing positive for Covid-19 last week.

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In a statement posted on the veteran’s Twitter page that same day, his family said he had been treated at home until Sunday when he needed additional help with his breathing.

Captain Sir Tom Moore has died at the age of 100.Captain Sir Tom Moore has died at the age of 100.
Captain Sir Tom Moore has died at the age of 100.

His daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore said her father had not needed to be taken to an intensive care unit.

A spokesperson for Moore’s family told the BBC at the time that he had not received a Covid-19 vaccine because of the medication he had been taking for pneumonia.

Moore’s fundraising efforts during the first national lockdown in April last year raised £38.9m for NHS charities after his pledge to walk 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday captured the imagination of fans from around the world.

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Boris Johnson said Moore’s “heroic efforts have lifted the spirits of the entire nation”, while the Duke of Cambridge praised him as a “one-man fundraising machine”.

The indomitable spirit he embodied inspired the nation, and he went on to break two Guinness World Records – becoming the oldest person to get a No 1 single in the UK charts and raising the most money ever for doing a solo charity walk.

Born in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in April 1920, Moore completed an apprenticeship as a civil engineer after finishing school and then joined the army.

In 1940, he was selected for officer training and rose to the rank of captain, later being posted to the ninth battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment in India.

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He served and fought in the Arakan in western Burma, since renamed Rakhine State, and went with his regiment to Sumatra after the Japanese surrender.

After the war, he returned to the UK and worked as an instructor at the Armoured Fighting Vehicle School in Bovington, Dorset.

He lived in Kent for many years before moving to Bedfordshire to be with his family in 2007.