VERA'S PRIDE
IN her last interview with The Sun Dame Vera Lynn told of her pride in The Queen using lines from her famous song "We'll Meet Again" to lift the nation during the Covid-19 crisis.
In an historic broadcast to the nation, Her Majesty said the song would give the country hope.
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And Dame Vera said she believed those poignant words would again bolster a beleaguered nation.
Speaking in April, the Forces Sweetheart told The Sun: “I think that We’ll Meet Again is such a hopeful song and it still applies today, especially during this crisis when friends and family are apart.
“I think that the spirit of the Blitz is very much here as retired doctors and nurses return to work to help out, which is wonderful of them.”
Dame Vera was among almost 24 million other Britons who watched the Queen’s historic address on Sunday, April 5.
Speaking from her home home in Ditchling, East Sussex, she told The Sun: “I watched the Queen’s speech which was wonderful, but I didn’t know that Her Majesty was going to finish up with the words, ‘We will meet again’.
FORCES SWEETHEART
“I have met the Queen on a number of occasions.
"You have to have something and someone that we can all look up to and rely on in times of trouble, and Her Majesty is that person.”
The Queen’s moving words ended by her telling the nation: “We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return.
“We will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.”
The words left many Britons unashamedly in tears. And the song from which the final sentence came struck a chord with a new generation.
Dame Vera’s recording of We’ll Meet Again instantly began to shoot up the charts, rising 689 places to number 22 on the iTunes chart by Monday afternoon.
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Leading bookmaker Coral gave odds of 2-1 that the song would top the charts.
We’ll Meet again was written by English songwriters Ross Parker and Hughie Charles and recorded by Dame Vera.
It became one of the most famous of the Second World War period. A much loved anthem for military personnel going off to fight and the families and sweethearts they left behind.
Its heartfelt lyrics included the lines: “We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when, but I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.
You have to have something and someone that we can all look up to and rely on in times of trouble, and Her Majesty is that person
Dame Vera
Dame Vera starred in the 1943 musical film We’ll Meet Again. In 2005 she sang the song in London on the 60th Anniversary of VE Day
Other popular songs recorded by Forces Sweetheart include The White Cliffs of Dover, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and There’ll Always Be an England.
NATIONAL ICON
Plumber’s daughter Dame Vera was born in March 1917 in East Ham, London, as the First World War raged.
By the age of seven, she was singing in working men’s clubs and was talent spotted aged 15 by local band leader Howard Bakerwhile singing at the Poplar Baths.In 1936, when she was 19, she had her first solo record - called Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire.
At 22 she had sold more than a million records, bought her parents a house and herself a car.
It was during World War Two that she would claim her place in posterity as a national icon.
Her famous songs We’ll Meet Again and The White Cliffs of Dover lifted a nation during the very blackest days of the Second World War.
Esther Rantzen pays touching tribute to friend Dame Vera Lynn after her death at 103
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Dame Vera said of her 1939 hit We’ll Meet Again: “It’s a good song as it goes with anyone anywhere saying goodbye to someone.
She travelled the world playing morale-boosting concerts to troops, including those in Myanmar (then Burma), India and Egypt.It sometimes meant roughing it in grass huts with a bucket of water as a shower.
Dame Vera told The Sun: “I had many highlights in my career and it is very difficult to name just one.
“Possibly one of them is my trip to Burma to entertain the troops in the jungle when no-one else was going out there.”
Speaking today after her death, singer Katherine Jenkins, who recently performed Dame Vera's iconic war-time hit on the BBC for the 75th anniversary of VE, said: "I simply cannot find the words to explain just how much I adored this wonderful lady.
"Her voice brought comfort to millions in their darkest hours, her songs filled the nation's hearts with hope, and her emotive performances, whether home or abroad, then or now, helped to get us through.
"It was she who chose the sentiments of her songs - she knew instinctively what people needed to hear, how to rally the morale and her spirit and strength created the soundtrack of a generation."
Sir Cliff Richard also paid tribute to Dame Vera, describing her as an “icon”.
While Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the singer’s "charm and magical voice entranced and uplifted our country in some of our darkest hours.”
The singer married clarinetist and saxophonist Harry Lewis in 1941. In 1946 their only child Virginia was born. Harry died in 1998.
Britain was boosted again by the sentiments Dame Vera conjured up in her song a lifetime ago.
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One of her last acts was to back The Sun’s campaign to raise £1m for NHS workers putting their lives on the line for us.
Dame Vera insisted: “I am very honoured to be able to support your Who Cares Wins campaign
“It is so important to look after all those wonderful NHS people who are trying to help all the poor people with this virus, and of course other illnesses. May I wish you the best of luck.”
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