Captain Tom remembers wartime comrades on 'very special' VE Day

Victory in Europe Day is a 'very special' occasion, Captain Tom Moore hassaid, as he remembered his comrades from the Second World War.

The Yorkshireman, who was just 20 when he was conscripted, has become a national hero by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday,raising more than £32 million for the NHS.

After he joined the Duke of Wellington's Regiment in 1940, he was posted toIndia the next year, later moving to the jungles of Burma. He had just returned from Asia and was at an army camp in Bovington, Dorset, when news of Nazi Germany's surrender came through.

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain:

But despite the war ending in Europe, Captain Tom has bittersweet memories of VE Day, having returned to the UK to work as a tank instructor while his friends were still fighting in Asia.

It was another three months until Japan's surrender on August 15 1945.

He went on: "At the time I was very concerned that all my comrades I had left in Burma were still fighting."My thoughts were with them because although there were great celebrations here all my comrades were still fighting in Burma with the Japanese."

The veteran, who was made an honorary colonel to mark his centenary andfundraising efforts, added that it is "rather sad" that people will not beable to celebrate the occasion in groups together because of the coronaviruslockdown.