LONDON (AP) — A World War II-era plane flew Saturday over the funeral service of Captain Tom Moore to honor of the veteran who single-handedly raised millions of pounds for Britain’s health workers by walking laps in his backyard.
Soldiers performed ceremonial duties at the service for the 100-year-old Moore, whose charity walk inspired the nation and raised almost 33 million pounds ($46 million). Captain Tom, as he became known, died Feb. 2 in the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19.
The private service was small, attended by just eight members of the veteran’s immediate family. But soldiers carried his coffin, draped in the Union flag, from the hearse to a crematorium and formed a ceremonial guard. Others performed a gun salute, before a C-47 Dakota military jet flew past.
“Daddy, you always told us ‘Best foot forward’ and true to your word, that’s what you did last year,” Moore’s daughter, Lucy Teixeira, said at the service. “I know you will be watching us chuckling, saying ‘Don’t be too sad as something has to get you in the end.'”
