Express & Star comment: Dame Vera Lynn a true icon
Vera Lynn was so much more than a singer. She was one of those rare people who came to sum up the whole spirit of an era.
Say her name, and images come to mind of those dark days when Britain stood alone and her music brought hope with a dash of defiance.
While naturally the sentiments of We'll Meet Again particularly resonated during the war when there were so many sad partings, they are timeless and strike straight at the heart.
"It's a good song as it goes with anyone anywhere saying goodbye to someone," Dame Vera herself said.
The marriage of lyrics which meant something to a great melody has given We'll Meet Again a magic which has spanned the ages.
Much of her appeal was that she was a big star who did not allow herself to be dazzled by her own stardom. She was under no illusions that she was the most glamorous, or what used to be called a pin up girl.
Her humility and unpretentious manner merely added lustre to her reputation.
She sang for "our boys" going into battle, and not just from the comfort of a studio. Out in Burma troops were enduring terrible privations in the jungle and fighting against a fanatical enemy.
They felt they were forgotten back home and called themselves The Forgotten Army.
In an epic and hazardous trip, Vera Lynn went out and sang for them. And they loved her for it.
She insisted on seeing the wounded in hospital, and sometimes would sing at their bedsides. She connected them with home, and all the old familiar places.
She shared the hardships without fuss. Having a shower meant a bucket of water.
No wonder she became dubbed The Forces' Sweetheart. It was a connection with the fighting forces which lasted for the rest of her long life.
That's the thing about quality. It endures.
Remorselessly the threads which still connect us to the wartime generation are being broken, and there will come a day when the break will be a complete break.
Vera Lynn, the singer, has now passed on. But whenever people hear, or sing, that song, she will be remembered.
A true British icon.
