LONDON — In April, 100-year-old World War II veteran Captain Tom Moore set out to raise £1,000 (about $1,250 USD) for NHS Charities Together, a federation of charities supporting Britain's National Hospital Service, during the coronavirus pandemic. 

On Friday, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II after raising nearly £33 million for front-line National Health Service workers in the UK.

The ceremony marks Queen Elizabeth II's first official engagement in person since the coronavirus pandemic. The Queen knighted Moore with a sword belonging to her father and conferred upon him the insignia of Knight Bachelor.

On Wednesday, Moore said that he "could never have imagined this would happen to me ... it is going to be the most special of days for me."

Moore served in the British Army in World War II, rising to the rank of captain during his military career. He was given the honorary rank of colonel in recognition of his charitable efforts, and was nominated for knighthood by Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier this year.

"Colonel Tom's fantastic fundraising broke records, inspired the whole country and provided us all with a beacon of light through the fog of coronavirus," the Prime Minister said in a press release.