‘Captain Tom’, 99, raises more than $31 million for UK carers

LONDON (Reuters) – Captain Tom Moore, a 99-year-old British war veteran described by Prince Harry as “utterly amazing”, has now raised more than 25 million pounds ($31.3 million) for the health service by walking 100 laps of his garden.

The World War Two veteran, who has used a walking frame with wheels since breaking his hip, set himself the target of walking the 25 metres around his garden 100 times before his 100th birthday on April 30.

He completed his task on Thursday.

Prince Harry said in an interview published on Sunday that he was honoured to be an army veteran in the company of people like Moore.

“Congratulations to Tom. What he’s done is utterly amazing. It’s not just what he’s done but it’s the reaction that people have had as well. Just wonderfully British,” Harry told the Declassified podcast for ex-servicemen and women.

Moore’s original target was to raise 1,000 pounds, but that modest aim was blown away as media attention from around the globe zoomed in on his garden in Bedfordshire, central England.

The retired army officer will be the guest of honour when a new “Nightingale” field hospital opens in Harrogate in northern England next week, which is being set up to help deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

“I am still amazed by the amount of kindness and generosity from the UK public who continue to give despite it being an uncertain time for many,” Moore said in a statement on Saturday.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)