Lockdown diary, day 19

Two uplifting stories over the past day or so, both relating to 99 year old war veterans.



A 99-year-old former guardsman who survived three years in a German prisoner of war camp has been applauded as he left hospital after recovering from Covid-19.

Albert Chambers, who will be 100 in July, is now “fit and well” according to Tickhill Road Hospital, in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

Mr Chambers was admitted to Doncaster Royal Infirmary after breaking his arm in a fall, but showed signs of coronavirus after he was moved to Tickhill Road for rehabilitation. He serviced in the Coldstream Guards in the Second World War.


And Captain Tom Moore, who is also a 99-year old veteran of World War Two having served in the 8th Battalion  of the Duke of Wellington's regiment which became a tank battalion operating Churchill heavy tanks, is aiming to walk the length of his garden 100 times before his hundredth birthday on 30th April to raise money for the NHS. It looked like a large garden when I saw the report on the BBC - apparently walking round it a hundred times would be about 2,500 metres.

Obviously this has struck a chord. Thanks to the generosity of the British public Captain Tom reached his initial target to raise one thousand pounds in 24 hours so he set a new target of a hundred thousand pounds and soon passed that.

At the time of posting this diary entry he is well on his way to hitting a third target of a quarter of a million pounds.

You can find his JustGiving page here.

Two remarkable stories.

Keep well.

Stay home, protect the NHS, save lives.

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