The 99-year-old war veteran Tom Moore set up a fundraising walk for the NHS and raised £12 million.
Hero Captain Tom Moore made a fundraising walk for NHS. The 99-year-old war veteran from Bedfordshire pledged to walk 25 metres around his garden 100 times before his 100th birthday later this month. This hero has touched the hearts of the nation.
At first, the modest old soldier, who was stationed in the Far East during WWII, hoped to raise just £1,000 for the NHS when he started the challenge last week. Last night, he tweeted that the fund is 10 million pounds. Then earlier this day, JustGiving page crashed, with more than 90,000 people trying to donate at once. Capt Moore described the donations as “completely out of this world”.
He said: “Thank you so much to all you people who subscribe to the National Health Service because, for every penny that we get, they deserve every one of it. I think that’s absolutely enormous. At no time when we started off with this exercise did we anticipate we’d get anything near that sort of money. It just shows that people have such high regard for matters of our National Health Service and it’s really amazing that people have paid so much money.”
Humble Capt Moore began raising funds as a way to thank NHS staff who treated him for a broken hip and also treated his late wife. Capt Moore was born and brought up in Keighley, Yorkshire. He went to Keighley Grammar School and later completed an apprenticeship as a Civil Engineer. He went onto being enlisted in 8 DWR (145 RAC) at the beginning of the war, and in 1940 was selected for Officer training.
He was later posted to 9DWR in India, and served and fought on the Arakan, went to Regiment to Sumatra after the Japanese surrender and returned to be Instructor at Armoured Fighting Vehicle School in Bovington. The veteran’s wife was ill for several years and died in 2006, while Capt Moore had been treated for a broken hip and skin cancer, so he continued to feel a close connection with the NHS, his daughter explained.