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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Sam Russell & Max McLean & Dave Burke

Captain Tom's funeral 'will be spectacular' with epitaph to read 'I told you I was old'

Captain Sir Tom Moore will be given a "quite spectacular" send-off tomorrow - with churches around the country set to ring their bells at noon.

NHS hero Captain Sir Tom, who raised more than £32 million for the NHS with his sponsored walk of his garden in the first lockdown, asked that My Way by Frank Sinatra be played at his funeral.

And his epitaph will read "I told you I was old" - a reference to comedian Spike Milligan, whose gravestone reads "I told you I was ill".

Troops from the Yorkshire Regiment will carry his coffin into crematorium.

Captain Sir Tom, who died on February 2 aged 100 after contracting Covid-19, served with the Duke of Wellington's Regiment during the Second World War.

He was made an Honorary Colonel of the regiment last August.

Captain Sir Tom raised more than £32 million for the NHS during the first lockdown (AFP via Getty Images)

A firing party of 14 will each fire three rounds in unison, and a bugler will sound The Last Post at the end of the private service.

Six representatives from the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, where Captain Sir Tom was made an Honorary Colonel, will then form a ceremonial guard.

His funeral will be attended by eight members of his immediate family - his two daughters Hannah Ingram-Moore and Lucy Teixeira, four grandchildren and his sons-in-law.

St Mary's Church in Marston Moretaine, near Captain Tom's home, will ring its bells 100 times at noon (REUTERS)

His daughter Lucy Teixeira, 52, said the service will be "quite spectacular", adding: "There's just going to be the eight of us under full Covid restrictions, we will honour him the best way we possibly can."

There are plans to plant trees around the world in his honour, with Ms Teixeira hoping that the Trees for Tom initiative will result in a wood in his home county of Yorkshire and the reforestation of part of India, where he served during the Second World War.

"My sister and I have been creating the funeral that my father wanted," she said.

A tribute to Captain Sir Tom near his Bedfordshire home after his death (REUTERS)

"He was very clear in his wishes and if he could have been put into a cardboard box, he would have done that, rather than chop down a tree."

She said she had received many messages from well-wishers, and that it was "wonderful" to see people writing in an online book of condolence.

St Mary's Church in Marston Moretaine, close to Captain Tom's home, said it would be ringing its bells 100 times at noon in his memory.

The church said: "This Saturday, Captain Sir Tom’s family will say their final goodbyes. To honour the life of this wonderful man, St. Mary’s church, along with churches across the county, will ring their bells 100 times at 12 noon."

The family has urged that people support the NHS by staying at home.

Once Covid-19 restrictions permit, they will inter Sir Tom's ashes in Yorkshire, with his parents and grandparents in the Moore family plot.

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