Retired paramedic who died of Covid after returning to duty given posthumous honour

A retired paramedic who died of Covid after returning to frontline duty during the pandemic has been recognised with a new honour.

Rod Moore is one of eight Scots being honoured with the Elizabeth Emblem, which was introduced last year for public servants who died in the line of duty.

At 63, Rod returned to full-time work with the Scottish Ambulance Service during the pandemic, bringing 40 years of experience to support his colleagues through an unprecedented crisis that stretched the health service to its limits.

He tragically contracted the virus and died at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in November 2020.

Rod’s wife, Clare, says she and son Craig, 31, are “chuffed” her beloved husband has been recognised.

The couple had been married for 32 years.

She told STV News: “He was a funny, funny man and he loved life. There was never a day that he wouldn’t come in and make me laugh.”

Rod retired in 2019 but felt compelled to return when the pandemic struck. “He said, ‘I’m going back to help,'” Clare recalled.

“He loved his work. He loved the patients.”

Rod worked seven days a week, supporting the newer paramedics he called “the young team.”

His health took a sudden downturn, and he was admitted to hospital in late October 2020.

Isolation rules kept his family from visiting until four weeks later, allowing them a final chance to say goodbye before he died.

“We received a call one Friday night from his doctor, warning us he was very sick. He told me to prepare myself.”

Clare said she was grateful to be with him in his last moments. “I didn’t want him to face it alone.”

On December 7, Rod’s colleagues from the Scottish Ambulance Service formed a guard of honour as the funeral procession passed Falkirk Ambulance Station, before he was laid to rest at Grandsable Cemetery in Polmont.

Clare said: “I miss him every day – the sound of the door and him shouting, ‘Hello darling, I’m in!’ Life is very different now, but I’m grateful for my friends and family.”

Reflecting on how Rod would have reacted to the news, Clare replied: “He’d probably say ‘I deserve it’ – and he did!

“He would be so delighted. I wish he was here to receive it.”

The Elizabeth Emblem was established last year as a national form of recognition, with the award given to the next of kin of public servants who have lost their lives as a result of their duty.

The honour is the civilian equivalent of the Elizabeth Cross, which recognises members of the UK Armed Forces who died in action or as a result of a terrorist attack.

Dunblane: ‘My wife paid the ultimate price’

Among the other Scots being honoured is Gwen Mayor, a primary school teacher killed while trying to protect her class in the Dunblane shooting almost three decades ago.

The primary one teacher died when gunman Thomas Hamilton burst into Dunblane Primary School on March 13 1996, killing the teacher and 16 children.

Her husband said the family is “extremely proud and honoured” to receive the award on behalf of Mrs Mayor.

“We always believed her actions that day deserved more recognition,” the statement read.

“You would have to have known Gwen to know that she would have done whatever trying to protect the children in her care. She paid the ultimate price for that commitment.

“Finally, we now feel that she has been honoured for what happened that day.”

Scottish secretary Ian Murray said he is “particularly pleased” to see the honour go to Mrs Mayor.

“No one will ever forget the horror of the shooting at Dunblane Primary School in 1996, when Mrs Mayor was killed trying to protect her pupils,” he said.

Other Scots honoured include firefighter Ewan Williamson, who died responding to a pub fire in Edinburgh in 2009, and William Oliver, a worker with the Glasgow Salvage Corps who lost his life in the 1960 Cheapside Street disaster – a catastrophic warehouse blaze that resulted in a deadly explosion claiming 19 lives.

Also recognised is firefighter Roderick Nicolson, who died in 1995 after becoming trapped in five tonnes of sodium carbonate ash while attempting to rescue two workmen from a silo of chemical dust at Perth Harbour.

Two Scottish police officers killed in the line of duty will also be recognised.

Pc Paul North, who was known by his second name of Richard, of Tayside Police, died when the police car he was in was involved in a collision with another vehicle whose driver was under the influence of drink and drugs in Perth in March 1987.

Pc Joseph Stewart Drake, of Stirling and Clackmannan Constabulary, was killed when a stolen lorry being pursued by officers intentionally struck his car as he tried to intercept it at Dennyloanhead near Falkirk in August 1967.

The Elizabeth Emblem was also awarded posthumously to Alastair Soutar of HM Customs & Excise, who was crushed between a customs boat and a smugglers’ vessel while taking part in an operation to catch drug smugglers off the Caithness coast in July 1996.

Speaking as a list of 106 people across the UK being honoured was published, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said Britain owes “an enduring debt to the public servants who give their lives to protect others”.

He said: “The Elizabeth Emblem is a reminder not just of the ultimate price their loved ones have paid in service of our communities, it is a lasting symbol of our national gratitude for their incredible sacrifice.”

Mr Murray paid tribute to the Scots being recognised, saying: “Every one of these brave public servants gave their life to protect others.

“They are people who stepped forward when most of us would step back, and they paid the ultimate price.

“I hope that the families of all those recognised will take some comfort in knowing that their loved ones, and their service, have not been forgotten.”