Heroic veteran Captain Tom Moore fought back tears as he revealed he has set up a mental health foundation in memory of his wife.
The 100-year-old national treasure said The Captain Tom Foundation would strive to give people “a little bit of hope” to combat loneliness.
The charity will aim to support those of all ages facing bereavement, champion education and equality, and support “our friends overseas”.
In doing so, Captain Sir Tom hopes it will give the same beacon of light to families that he offered the nation during the darkest weeks of lockdown.
The Second World War veteran raised almost £33 million for the NHS by walking laps of his garden, for which he was knighted by the Queen in July.
Captain Tom Moore - In pictures
He dedicated the foundation to his late wife Pamela, who struggled with mental illness and died in a care home in 2000.
“I went to see her everyday, day after day. Until, in the last few years, I used to go at lunchtime to feed her because she couldn’t feed herself,” he told BBC Breakfast in an emotional interview.
“So for years and years I did that and I was quite happy, I never resented that for a minute because after all, I had a contract, hadn’t I?”
His voice quivering, and fighting back tears, he went on: “Of sickness and in health. And then, so doing that was no hardship. So when she actually died, it wasn’t a terrible loss as often people are. Because she’d died, really in a sense, she’d died years and years before. And that was the end.
“When Pamela was in the home, she had me as a visitor. But some people, well most of the people were ladies. They were really weary poor old things.
“But nobody ever came to see them. Year in, year out, some never ever had a visitor and they must have been very lonely indeed.
Captain Sir Tom Moore is knighted by the Queen - In pictures
“And really that’s one of the things of the foundation, is to help lonely people and people who are in difficulties. Not necessarily old people because there are some young people who really are not properly looked after.
“So the foundation is now there to help all sorts of people, where a little bit of hope would do them some good.”
The emotional interview came as Captain Sir Tom released his autobiography, Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day, a book charting his incredible fundraising effort that captured the hearts and minds of the nation.