Spitfire fly-past marks Dame Vera Lynn’s funeral

Dame Vera Lynn Tribute on the White Cliffs of Dover, Credit: Twitter

Dame Vera Margaret Lynn CH DBE OStJ (née Welch; March 20, 1917 – June 18, 2020) was an English singer, songwriter and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during the Second World War.

Credit: Twitter

She was referred to as the ‘Forces’ Sweetheart’ and gave outdoor concerts for the troops in Egypt, India and Burma during the war as part of Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). The most popular songs with her are We’ll Meet Again, (There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and There’ll Always Be an England, according to Wikipedia.

Spitfire Credit: Twitter

Always popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the United Kingdom and the United States, and recording such hits as Auf Wiederseh’n, Sweetheart and her UK number-one single My Son, My Son. Her last single, I Love This Land, was released to mark the end of the Falklands War. In 2009, at the age of 92, she became the oldest living artist to top the UK Albums Chart releasing the compilation album We’ll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn. In 2014, she released the collection Vera Lynn: National Treasure and in 2017,  Vera Lynn 100, a compilation album of hits to commemorate her centenary – it was a No 3 hit, making her the first centenarian performer to ever have a Top 10 album in the charts. By the time of her death earlier this year she had been active in the music industry for an impressive 96 years.

Lynn was always involved with charity work connected with ex-servicemen, disabled children and breast cancer. She was held in great affection by Second World War veterans and in the year 2000 she was named the Briton who best exemplified the spirit of the 20th century.

Her funeral today was marked by a Spitfire fly-past.

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Mark T Connor

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