What did Captain Tom do in the war?
AS get well messages flood in for Captain Tom Moore, we look back at a time when he was fighting a different battle.
Here is what we know about his service during World War Two.
What did Captain Tom do in the war?
He enlisted into the eighth battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (8 DWR), an infantry unit that was converted to operate Churchill tanks as part of the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC).
He was selected for officer training and rose to the rank of captain, later being posted to 9 DWR in India.
He served and fought in the Arakan in western Burma, later renamed Rakhine State.
After this, he went with his regiment to Sumatra after the Japanese surrender in 1945 following the dropping of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
When did he serve?
Sir Tom was conscripted into the army in May 1940.
After returning to the UK from South East Asia in 1945, he stayed on in the army, working as an instructor at the Armoured Fighting Vehicle School in Bovington, Dorset.
He was demobilized in 1946.
What did Captain Tom do after the war?
After leaving the army, he worked as a sales manager for a roofing materials company in Yorkshire.
Later on he was managing director of a Fens-based company manufacturing concrete, Cawood Concrete Products Ltd.
Outside work Moore raced motorcycles competitively.
This was a passion, as he had purchased his first when he was 12 and wore the number 23.
He rode a Scott motorcycle, clinching several trophies.
Moore was a member of the Keighley and District Photographic Association between 1934 and 1936, as had been his dad.
He was a contestant in the Christmas Day 1983 edition of the BBC TV game show Blankety Blank.
How Captain Tom united the nation
April 2020 – Captain Tom Moore begins his fundraising effort to walk 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday with the aim of raising £1,000 for the NHS
April 14 – The war veteran smashes his initial target with £1million donated by mid-morning – rising to £2million just hours later
April 15 – More than £7million is donated by over 340,000 supporters as celeb's praise his heroic effort
April 16 – Captain Tom completes his 100 laps and vows to keep going if people are donating. He receives support from the Prime Minister and Royal family for his incredible achievement
April 24 – The veteran becomes the oldest person to top the charts with his cover of "You'll Never Walk Alone" with singer Michael Ball
April 30 – The hero's fundraising page reaches £32million as he celebrates his 100th birthday. A military flypast honours his birthday milestone and he is made a honorary colonel
July 17 – Captain Tom receives a knighthood from the Queen in a special engagement held just for him
September – He signs a deal to film a biopic of his incredible life and writes bestselling autobiography, titled "Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day"
October 5 – Captain Tom becomes one of the country's oldest podcasters with the launch of a series to tackle isolation among older people
December – He celebrates Christmas with his family on a bucket list trip to Barbados
January 31, 2021 – His family reveal he has been admitted to hospital with pneumonia and Covid
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