Daddy, you may be gone but your spirit lives on
Captain Sir Tom’s daughter pays loving tribute as nation says goodbye to its hero with RAF flypast and gun salute
WRAPPED in his country’s flag, the old soldier’s coffin was lifted from the hearse with a reverence a whitegloved museum curator might afford a priceless artefact. Captain Sir Tom Moore was no less a treasure, and not merely a national one. When he put on his regimental tie last spring, pinned his gleaming campaign medals to his jacket and paraded slowly but steadily up and down his garden, he inspired a Covid-wounded world.
On his final journey in Bedfordshire yesterday, nobody was surprised that, even in late winter, the sun shone – gloriously – on the ever-optimistic old stager. Or that at noon precisely, a Second World Warera C-47 Dakota rumbled into view for the flypast and was framed by a perfect cloud-dappled blue sky.
Sir Tom’s funeral was joyful, hopeful and, like the 100-year-old himself, dignified, down to earth and a touch playful.
The music was stirring – You’ll Never Walk Alone, The White Cliffs Of Dover and I Vow To Thee My Country – and, at times, tears were inescapable.
There was his youngest granddaughter Georgia’s self-penned poem likening her grandpa to a magician and before that her brother Benjie’s heartfelt tribute: ‘If there is a lesson I have learned from living with you the last 13 years, it’s the power of positivity and kindness. I truly do not believe I would be the person I am today without your sound guidance... Growing up with you every day, the smell of porridge as I came downstairs was almost a sign to know everything was OK.’
Towards the end, both children were comforted during Frank Sinatra’s My Way by their mother Hannah, who stretched out her arm and rubbed Benjie’s shoulder, never lifting her hand until the unrepentant lyrics filling Bedford Crematorium ended and mourners were asked to stand.
For the most part, this was a day not for tears but for the nation to straighten its shoulders with pride
‘You taught me the power of positivity’
and celebrate the life of a remarkable man, who not only raised millions of pounds but delivered a tonic when needed most.
Because of Covid, only eight mourners – Sir Tom’s two daughters and their families – attended the service. Without restrictions, who knows how many might have flocked to pay their respects. For this was a man, it was easy to imagine, who could fill Westminster Abbey a hundred times over and still leave people standing outside.
But low-key it remained and that’s how Sir Tom wanted it. With help from Benjie, he planned every detail. His coffin was borne by soldiers from his old regiment, now the Yorkshires, with another 14 each firing three rounds in unison before the small service began.
It opened with the charity single Sir Tom recorded with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir, You’ll Never Walk Alone, which reached No 1 in the singles charts.
Daughter Lucy Teixeira, 52, was the first family member to speak.
‘Daddy, I am so proud of you, what you achieved your whole life and especially in the last year…
‘We have been so close as a family before this but we were thrust even closer together as the world became enthralled by your spirit of hope, positivity and resilience.
‘You always told us to put our best foot forward and that’s what you did last year.’ Last April, the former tank commander set himself the challenge of walking 100 laps of his 25- yard garden in his home village of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, at ten laps a day, assisted by a walking frame. With a homemade video on social media f eaturing his grandchildren’s friends, Sir Tom urged wellwishers to support his walk by donating to NHS Charities Together.
‘Some would say I get around with difficulty but there are some people who are a lot worse than me,’ he said. said ‘As long as p people don’t want me to run about too fast, I can manage and will continue to manage for as long as I possibly can.’ In all, he raised nearly £40 million.
In her eulogy, Sir Tom’s other daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, 50, spoke of the happiness he gave them through a stable family life. It was, she said, ‘peppered with the excitement of intrepid camping trips across Europe which gave our young minds a window on the world that you said was our oyster to open’.
A bugler sounded The Last Post when the service ended, and St Mary’s Church in Marston Moretaine led others across the country in ringing its bells 100 times.
Sir Tom died at Bedford Hospital on February 2 after testing positive for Covid-19.
He asked that his epitaph read ‘I told you I was old’, a nod to Spike Milligan’s epitaph: ‘I told you I was
‘You always told us to put our best foot forward’
ill.’ Several items were placed on Sir Tom’s coffin, including a replica of his service cap from the Second World War, a wreath from the Yorkshire Regiment, his campaign medals, including the Burma Star, and his knighthood medal stitched on to a cushion. There was also a specially commissioned sword engraved with the motto of the Yorkshire Regiment on one side – ‘Fortune favours the brave’ – and, on the other, his personal motto: ‘Tomorrow will be a good day.’