Coronavirus pandemic
WWII vet raises $21m for British healthcare staff
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Mr Tom Moore, an army captain who served in India, completing the 100th lap of his 25m garden in England yesterday. The final lap was met with a guard of honour from the Yorkshire Regiment and broadcast live on British TV.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
LONDON • A 99-year-old British World War II veteran yesterday completed 100 laps of his garden in a fundraising challenge for healthcare staff that has captured the heart of the nation, raising more than £12 million (S$21 million).
"Incredible and now words fail me," said Mr Tom Moore, an army captain who served in India, after finishing the laps of his 25m garden with the help of his walking frame.
Mr Moore initially set himself the goal of raising £1,000 for a National Health Service charity in time for his 100th birthday at the end of the month, after receiving treatment for a broken hip and cancer.
But his efforts - a rare bit of good news during the coronavirus pandemic that has killed almost 13,000 people in Britain alone - have made him a star in his own country and abroad.
"Thank you all for your amazing support. It has been a memorable experience. Thank you so much," he wrote on Twitter.
The final lap of his garden in Bedfordshire, east England, was met with a guard of honour from the Yorkshire Regiment and broadcast live on British TV.
"I'm surrounded by the right kind of people," Mr Moore told the BBC.
"I'm feeling fine, I hope you are all feeling fine too."
Previously, he has spoken of his admiration for medical staff.
"In the last war, it was soldiers in uniform on the front line. This time, our army are the doctors and nurses (in) uniforms," he told ITV's Good Morning Britain earlier this week. "We will survive this."
Health Secretary Matt Hancock called Mr Moore "an inspiration to us all".
"This is an awful crisis, but there are some little shafts of light," he told BBC television.
More than 645,000 people have contributed funds, with the rate of donations causing the JustGiving page to temporarily crash.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
