Captain Tom RIP

The Queen led tributes to Captain Sir Thomas Moore, honorary colonel, who has died with COVID-19 at the age of a hundred.

Captain Tom became a symbol if inspiration last year when he set out in the run up to his hundredth birthday to raise a thousand pounds for NHS charities by walking a hundred times around his garden. He so caught the imagination of the country that more one and a half million people made donations amounting in total to nearly £33 million - and worth about £39 million to NHS charities after gift aid from the government was added.

His family said that because of other medication Captain Tom was receiving for pneumonia, he was unable to be vaccinated.

 In a statement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: 

"Captain Sir Tom Moore was a hero in the truest sense of the word. In the dark days of the Second World War he fought for freedom and in the face of this country's deepest post-war crisis he united us all, he cheered us all up, and he embodied the triumph of the human spirit.

"He became not just a national inspiration but a beacon of hope for the world. Our thoughts are with his daughter Hannah and all his family."

The flag above 10 Downing Street has been flying at half-mast in tribute and Boris Johnson has spoken to Sir Tom Moore's daughter Mrs Ingram-Moore to offer his condolences.

The cliche "a nation mourns" is often trotted out when a famous person dies. This time it is true.

Rest in Peace.



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