But he added: “I don’t remember being scared at the time.”
Mr. Moore returned home after the war and built a comfortable life as a manager for a concrete company. He remained energetic until the late 1990s, mowing the lawn, running a greenhouse and driving his own car. But two years ago he fell in the kitchen, breaking his hip and rib and piercing a lung.
His hospitalization left him with a longstanding appreciation for doctors and nurses at the National Health Service. While the service struggled with a stream of coronavirus patients last spring, raising money for its besieged team seemed a valid cause.
“Never in 100 years, when we started, did we predict that that amount of money would be raised,” said Moore.
Part of the money he raised is being used to create therapeutic facilities for doctors and nurses to decompress after their work on treating Covid patients. Moore said he saw his fundraising as a way to support health professionals, just as he recalls that the British supported him and fellow soldiers during the war.
“At that time, people my age were fighting on the front lines and the general public was behind us,” said Moore. “In this case, doctors and nurses and all medical personnel, they are on the front lines. It is up to my generation to support them, just like we did the backup. “
Even after turning 100, Mr. Moore had not lost his sense of adventure. In addition to Barbados, he expressed a desire to return to India.
“This is something I would love to do, but at 100,” he said matter-of-factly, “you have a certain time limit.”