GOODBYE VERA
Goodbye Dame Vera Lynn – the plumber’s daughter who became a shining beacon of love, hope and victory over darkness
DAME Vera Lynn was the evergreen wartime Forces’ Sweetheart who became an iconic symbol of love, hope and victory over darkness.
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.
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With her blonde hair and sweet looks she managed to portray a unique image of pin-up, darling and girl next door inspiring both troops fighting abroad and their wives suffering at home.
And her appeal was so enduring she was still raising spirits 75 years later at the age of 103 during the Coronavirus crisis.
The singer was born Vera Margaret Welch on March 20 1917 in East Ham, East London, the daughter of a working-class plumber.
Aged just seven she was performing in local working men’s clubs, delighting cockney families with her sweet singing.
Before she was a teenager she had left school and decided to tour the country with a music hall revue show - under her new stage name Vera Lynn.
FORCES' FAVOURITE SWEETHEART
The jazz age brought her national fame when she was broadcast on the BBC in 1935 with the Joe Loss Orchestra.
In 1936, when she was 19, she had her first solo record - called Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire.
But she feared her performances would be one of the first casualties of the Second World War in 1939.
Vera once said: “Like everyone else, I listened to Neville Chamberlain announce we were at war with Germany.
“I remember thinking: “Oh well, bang goes my career.”
But instead, it was to be the making of her.
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She topped a poll by the Daily Express when she was voted by servicemen as their favourite Forces’ Sweetheart.
And the release of We’ll Meet Again later that year cemented her place in history.
She said simply of the song: “It’s a good song as it goes with anyone anywhere saying goodbye to someone.”
“My songs reminded the boys of what they were really fighting for.
“Precious, personal things, rather than ideologies and theories.”
WE'LL MEET AGAIN
Dame Vera spent the war years entertaining the troops, performing in hospitals and army camps, and travelling as far as India and Burma.
She stayed in tents and grass huts, and “went goodness knows how long without a bath”.
Of her journeys to such threatening territory, she explained: “It was so important to get entertainment to the boys.”
By the age of 22, she had sold more than a million records, bought her parents a house and herself a car.
The singer married clarinettist and saxophonist Harry Lewis in 1941.
She once recalled: “I don’t think I thought much of him at first.
“He wooed me with chewing gum.”
Somehow they survived such a low key early date to form a marriage which lasted six decades until Harry - who became her manager - died in 1998.
In 1946 their only child Virginia was born.
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Her career had unparalleled longevity - spanning an incredible 11 decades.
She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the UK and across the pond in the States where she also enjoyed huge success.
In 1952, she became the first British singer to have a number one hit in America with the song Auf Wiedersehen, Sweetheart.
And two years later, she had her only British number-one single with My Son, My Son.
In 1976 Lynn was made a Dame and in 2000 she was named as the Briton who best exemplified the spirit of the 20th Century.
Her last single, “I Love This Land”, was released to mark the end of the Falklands War in 1982.
Dame Vera made her last public singing performance in front of the Queen Mother in 1995.
KEEPING UP THE MORALE
She also appeared on stage during the 60th-anniversary commemorations for VE Day in 2005 at Buckingham Palace in front of crowds of thousands.
In 2009, at the age of 92, she became the oldest living artist to top the UK Albums Chart with the compilation album We’ll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn.
After celebrating her 103rd birthday at her home in Ditchling in March she said: “Thank you all for the kind gifts, cards and gestures I received to celebrate my birthday this year.
“Once again, I am overwhelmed by everyone’s kindness and generosity, and am so grateful to you all for helping me to mark this milestone.
“I feel very fortunate to have reached 103, and my day will be made all the more special by hearing from people all around the world.
“Thank you also for your generosity towards my Charitable Trust as I care very much about the work it does and the donations received around my birthday are the best gift imaginable.”
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Dame Vera Lynn enjoyed a resurgence during the last few months of her life as her words became a source of comfort to many during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Queen channelled the lyrics of her wartime classic when she told a nation in lockdown, separated from their families and friends, “We will meet again”.
Today Welsh opera singer Katherine Jenkins summed up the contribution made by such a Great Briton.
She said: “There will never be another Dame Vera Lynn. Forces’ Sweetheart and our sweetheart. An icon. A legend. An inspiration. My mentor and my friend. I will miss you greatly and I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.”
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But Dame Vera was always honest about her massive fame.
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She said: “I don’t live in the past
“Even though I have never been allowed to forget it."
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