Ten Chelsea Pensioners have now lost their lives to coronavirus at the famous Chelsea Royal Hospital for veterans in west London.
The famous hospital is home to 300 military veterans who have served their country in some of the most dangerous places in the world.
Alongside the 10 dead, who are each remembered with a service, a further 74 residents who tested positive for Covid-19 or displayed symptoms have gone on to make a full recovery.
Among the Chelsea Pensioners who lost their lives to the virus was 75-year-old Fred Boomer-Hawkins, pictured centre, taking a selfie with other Chelsea pensioners in Durham
The hospital chaplain, Reverend Steven Brooks, told BBC Radio 4: ‘My normal job is to take funerals, but we have had 18 in 10 weeks, 10 through Covid and eight through other causes. We have been unable to hold any funerals here in the chapel.
‘People have told me this is much worse than anything they encountered during their many years of service, they say it is a hidden enemy.’
Monica Parrot, one of the 74 pensioners to have suffered the virus and recovered, told the programme: ‘It was awful, what was horrible as well was the fact I was a bit scared.
‘You think “oh, is it going to be me next” and because you’ve got so much time on your own you start to think a bit negatively about what it is going to be happening to you and feeling a bit sorry for yourself and having a little cry now and again, a big cry now and again.’
A further 58 residents at the Royal Hospital Chelsea have recovered after testing positive for Covid-19 or showing symptoms. There are 290 residents at the home for veterans
The ongoing pandemic has also meant that Founders’ Day on June 4, the highlight of the Chelsea Pensioners’ calendar, has been stripped back this year.
The event is usually watched by hundreds of peoples and celebrates the founding of the Royal Hospital by King Charles II. The event has taken place almost every year since the Royal Hospital opened in 1692.
The Governor of Chelsea Royal Hospital, General Sir Adrian Bradshaw, added: ‘Somehow, despite all our drills, it got in here. I think that is an illustration of just how difficult this disease is to deal with and hospitals, care homes, all around the country, have found that.
‘Despite their best efforts, it gets past the defences.’
The Founders’ Day parade at Chelsea Royal Hospital has been scaled back this year
A makeshift pub, the Covid Arms, has been set up on the grounds, to allow the pensioners a chance to socialise and enjoy themselves.
The residents at the home include 47 veterans who fought in the Second World War, plus soldiers who served in the Korean War, Cyprus and Northern Ireland.
It welcomes Army veterans aged over 65 who have no living dependants and a welfare need such as financial hardship or bereavement. The average age of its residents is 82.
Mr Boomer-Hawkins is pictured above as a young man. Neighbours, servicemen and friends lined the streets of Colchester as his funeral procession went past their homes yesterday morning
Sir Adrian added: ‘Most of our Pensioners have risked their lives serving our nation through war and conflict.’
Among the Chelsea Pensioners who lost their lives to the virus was Fred Boomer-Hawkins, 75, who became ill in the last week of March.
Neighbours, servicemen and friends lined the streets of Colchester as his funeral procession went past their homes.
His son Terry Hawkins, 49, said Mr Boomer-Hawkins was ‘extremely proud’ to wear the red uniform of the Chelsea Pensioners after moving to the hospital in 2017.
His son said: ‘He was a very popular man, loving, generous, honourable and loyal. He was everything you could want from a dad.’
Father-of-three Mr Boomer-Hawkins had joined the Army at 17.
In his first posting, he served as a Royal Green Jacket, based in Colchester, Essex, where he met first wife, Jean.
His duties included spells in Malaysia, Germany and Northern Ireland. He was a UN peacekeeper in Cyprus.
Mr Boomer-Hawkins’ son said that as his breathing worsened and he was moved to hospital, he sent a text reading: ‘Prepare yourself, I fear the worst now’.
He added: ‘We were able to go in on that final day and the doctors told us he only had between two and eight hours left. We never thought it would come to that, it was heart-breaking.’
The Royal Hospital said an Army medical team has been helping to tackle the coronavirus threat and is able to test all those who show symptoms.