Tributes paid by Captain Sir Tom's family at funeral
- Published
Relatives of Captain Sir Tom Moore have spoken of their "pride" at his funeral.
The service for the 100-year-old, who raised almost £33m for NHS charities by walking laps of his garden, began with him being honoured by the military.
Six Yorkshire Regiment members carried his coffin, draped in the union jack, and an honour guard fired volleys.
During the service his daughter Lucy Teixeira said "You always told us to put your best foot forward and that's what you did last year," she said.
After the military honours, which included a flypast from a World War Two-era plane, his family followed the coffin into the crematorium for the private service.
Captain Sir Tom's two daughters, Lucy Teixeira and Hannah Ingram-Moore, four grandchildren and his sons-in-law made up the mourners.
The service opened with a rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone, which Sir Tom recorded with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir.
The celebrant conducting the funeral described him as "a proud British veteran and a gentleman".
Following the White Cliffs Of Dover by Dame Vera Lynn, his daughter Lucy Teixeira told the service she was "proud" of her father.
"You always told us to put your best foot forward and that's what you did last year," she said.
A version of the song Smile, recorded especially for the funeral by singer Michael Buble, was also played.
The service was brought to a close by a bugler sounding The Last Post.
My Way by Frank Sinatra was heard at the end, as requested by Capt Sir Tom, who said he liked the line about "having too few regrets to mention".
As his coffin was carried by the Yorkshire Regiment solders, a C-47 Dakota, part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, soared past in tribute to the man whose charity efforts inspired people across the UK.
A bugler sounded The Last Post when the service concluded, and St Mary's Church in Marston Moretaine, Captain Sir Tom's home village, led others across the country in ringing their bells 100 times.
A post on his Twitter page read: "So even if tomorrow is my last day, if all those I loved are waiting for me then that tomorrow will be a good day too" while the Yorkshire Regiment posted it was "proud" to be representing the British Army at the funeral.
They said it was a "solemn, dignified and fitting tribute to a man who inspired millions".
Final resting place
The veteran had spent the last few months of his life writing a book which he had planned to publish just before his 101st birthday.
A section was released, in which he said he would "like to watch my own funeral from a distance" and laugh at "everyone making a lot of fuss over me".
"I want the service to end with My Way by Frank Sinatra because I always did things my way and I especially like the line about having too few regrets to mention," he wrote.
Captain Sir Tom was originally from Keighley near Bradford, and his family said that once Covid-19 restrictions allow, his ashes will be interred in Yorkshire, where he will rest with his parents and grandparents in the Moore family plot.