Captain Tom Moore, 100 year old UK fundraiser hero, honored at funeral

Veteran Moore received a shooting salute from 14 Yorkshire Regiment soldiers and an air ticket from a World War II plane.

His Union flag coffin was carried by soldiers from the regiment to the crematorium in Bedford, in eastern England, passing empty seats due to coronavirus restrictions. The soldiers then marched out and left their family for service, to the sound of Moore singing “You Never Walk Alone” on a charity single he recorded with Michael Ball.

In keeping with current coronavirus restrictions, the funeral was attended by his immediate family – two daughters, Lucy Teixeira and Hannah Ingram-Moore, four grandchildren and their sons-in-law.

“Daddy, I’m very proud of you,” said Teixeira, “what you’ve accomplished in your entire life and especially in the past year. You may be gone, but your message and your spirit are still alive.”

Lucy said her father would be attending the funeral and laughing “saying ‘don’t be too sad because something is going to get you in the end'”.

Alfie Boe’s performance of “I Vow To Thee My Country” and “The White Cliffs Of Dover” by Dame Vera Lynn were played at the touching ceremony.

As soon as the Covid-19 restrictions allow, the family will intern Moore’s ashes in Yorkshire, where he will rest with his parents and grandparents on the Moore family site.

He died in hospital on February 2 after a positive test for Covid-19.

Affectionately known as Captain Tom, Moore raised nearly £ 33 million ($ 45 million) by walking around his garden last year. His exploits united a frozen country and made him an unlikely celebrity at the end of his life, which earned him a military promotion, a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II and a number one bachelor.

Moore’s fundraising efforts will be long associated with the UK’s plunge into confinement last spring, and his death has made him one of the best-known victims of a virus that claimed the lives of more than 120,000 Britons.