In Tom’s footsteps
War hero, 100, walks over 600 miles in laps of home to raise £50,000 for MND
A 100-YEAR-OLD war hero inspired by Captain Tom Moore has walked hundreds of miles around his garden raising cash for charity.
Second World War veteran Lance Corporal Harold Jones has done up to 40 laps a day since March 2020.
The great-grandfather of six aims to raise £50,000 for the MND Association after losing friends to the disease.
He started his walking circuits after watching the late Captain Tom, 100, and trying to keep fit during lockdown.
Harold, who credits his fitness to years in the military, has done 41,550 laps – 661 miles – despite previously breaking his back in three places.
It is the equivalent of walking from the dad of two’s bungalow in Sutton Coldfield, West Mids, to Germany.
Harold has so far raised £43,000 on JustGiving after an initial £1,000 target.
He said: “Captain Tom did inspire me but I’ve walked a far greater distance. “I had lost three friends with Motor Neurone Disease and I thought I’d do the same.”
Harold said he walks after breakfast in all types of weather, adding: “You grit your teeth. I put on an anorak, pull it over my ears.”
Harold served in the British Army in India and Burma from 1942 until 1947.
He worked as a Royal Pay Corps auditor, adding: “We didn’t know if we’d get there because of the U-boats. “From India I went to Burma. My experience with the Japanese was taking them to prison camps. I walked a 92-mile hike in a week after having recovered from diphtheria.”
Harold was given a Points of Light award by Rishi Sunak after the MND Association put his name forward.
The charity’s Amanda Bourne said: “People like Harold help get us towards the goal of finding a cure for MND.”
I lost pals to MND and thought I would do the same as Capt Tom L/CPL HAROLD JONES ON HIS WALKING CHALLENGE