Should WW2 veteran NHS fundraiser Tom Moore be knighted?

BRITONS are calling for 99-year-old veteran Captain Tom Moore to be handed a knighthood after he raised more than £23 million for the NHS by walking 100 lengths of his garden with the help of his walking frame just two weeks before his 100th birthday!

He said he never anticipated his walking challenge would gain such huge support and result in an “absolutely enormous” amount of money raised.

He added: “It just shows that people have such high regard for matters of our National Health Service and it’s really amazing that people have paid so much money.”

Originally planning to raise £1,000 for the NHS, Mr Moore has now raised 23,000 times the amount of his target.

He told BBC News: “It seems almost like fairyland to think that we started off at 1,000 to a sum of money that’s not believable, is it?”

Originally from Keighley in Yorkshire, Mr Moore trained as a civil engineer before enlisting in the army for the Second World War, rising to captain and serving in India and Burma.

Mr Moore, who recently had a hip replacement, told the BBC: “I never imagined anything like this, but I’m so pleased, and I hope it just goes on because the services I got from all these doctors and nurses was absolutely outstanding.

“And they’re such nice people too.”

We shared Tom’s story via our Facebook page, and so many of our members think that he deserves a knighthood by the Queen along with her special birthday card.

What are your views? Do you think Captain Moore should me made Sir Tom?

Donations to NHS Charities Together can be made at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tomswalkforthenhs