LONDON (UK) – World War Two veteran Captain Tom Moore, who helped raise millions of pounds for health service workers fighting the coronavirus, received online abuse weeks before he died this month at 100, said his daughter on Wednesday.
Hannah Ingram-Moore told BBC television the online messages were kept a secret, adding that abuse from a “vile minority” would have left him heartbroken.
The veteran struck a chord with Britons who were forced to remain indoors because of the lockdown by walking around the garden with the aid of a frame to raise 38.9 million pounds ($54.04 million) for the National Health Service.
While he received tens of thousands of supportive messages, some were abusive in nature.
“It was as pretty horrific as it could be,” said Ingram-Moore.
“I couldn’t tell him because how do you rationalise to a 100-year-old man that something so incredibly good can attract such horror,” she said.
“It really did hurt and it really is hard to deal with but we have dealt with it and they will not win, they will never make this amazing thing negative.”
Moore carried a simple message of hope and self-sacrifice. He died on Feb. 2 after testing positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 22. He was also battling pneumonia.
His death was condoled by Queen Elizabeth, the parliament and the White House.