Give a smile and get one back says Sir Tom
NEWLY knighted Captain Tom Moore yesterday urged Britain to spread more kindness.
The fundraising hero will be anointed by the Queen after raising £33million for the NHS.
And he urged the nation to follow his example by caring for others.
He said: “There is a future for everyone and there is room for an expansion in kindness in everyone.
“Everyone has some kindness somewhere, so please extend your kindness to everyone that you possibly can.
“As you go along give everyone a little smile and see if you get a smile back. This is something that might do a lot of good.”
Capt Tom, who turned 100 last month, will become Capt Sir Tom at Buckingham Palace on a date yet to be confirmed.
Inspiration
His knighthood was recommended and fast tracked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson who called the Second World War veteran a national treasure.
It will cap a remarkable few months for the former soldier who went from being unknown to a global phenomenon through his inspiring garden walks for the NHS.
Just weeks ago he scoffed at the very suggestion of being knighted, saying: “Sir Thomas Moore, have you ever heard such a thing?”
The accolade will see Capt Tom receive a tap of a knighting sword on his shoulders on his date with the Monarch.
He joked: “I am looking forward to that – I hope she is not too heavy-handed with the sword as by then I might be a rather poor old weak soul.
“I am certainly delighted and overawed by the fact this has happened to me.
“I thought this can’t be true, I’ve always said this won’t happen and it appears it actually has. I certainly never anticipated this letter would arrive for me.”
Capt Tom, a decorated war hero who served with distinction in the 1st Battalion of The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment during the Second World War, was conscripted in 1940 and posted to India before joining the fight in Burma.
Joining him on his special day will be his daughters Lucy Teixeira and Hannah Ingram-Moore, her husband Colin and their children Benjie, 16, and Georgia, 11.
Capt Tom joked: “I might find a lot of people might like to come with me – I might have to issue tickets.”
When aged 98 the decorated hero suffered a fall at home in Marston Moretaine, Beds, breaking his hip, fracturing his ribs and puncturing a lung. He was hospitalised and later diagnosed with skin cancer.
Before his accident he was an energetic nonagenarian, but the double blow knocked his confidence and slowed him down.
However, the exemplary treatment he received by the NHS was something he desperately wanted to recognise and proved the inspiration for his fundraising drive.
He said he wanted to raise £1,000 by the time he turned 100 by walking 100 lengths of his garden.
But by the time he received a telegram from the Queen he had raised £30million.
With gift aid the total has reached a staggering £39million.
Asked whether his grandchildren would now bow in front of him and call him Sir Grandad, he joked: “That’ll be the day.
“I really don’t think that is what they will be doing.”