Final curtain for 'Forces Sweetheart'

Final curtain for 'Forces Sweetheart'

It was sad to learn of the passing of Dame Vera Lynn, Britain's wartime singer known as the "Forces Sweetheart''. Although she was 103, her death still came as a shock as she was one of those inspirational people you thought would go on forever.

Some of her song lyrics might seem a bit corny, but they were right for the time. Most people as ancient as Crutch are familiar with the opening lines of We'll Meet Again and The White Cliffs of Dover. The latter song also has a poignant final verse: "There'll be fun and laughter, and peace ever after, Tomorrow when the world is free."

If only that were the case.

Amazingly, despite her popularity, Vera was criticised in Parliament by politicians who thought her songs were too sentimental and made the soldiers homesick and unwilling to fight. In fact, her music had the opposite effect and she received thousands of letters from soldiers saying her songs gave them inspiration to keep on fighting.

Vera explained that she just wanted to lift spirits: "My songs reminded the boys of what they were really fighting for. Precious personal things rather than ideologies."

Vera's impact on World War II was such that comedian Harry Secombe once joked: "Churchill didn't beat the Nazis. Vera sang them to death."

Radio days

I first heard Vera on BBC radio in the mid 1950s and admit to not being that enthused by her music, finding it a bit maudlin and old fashioned. But my mum and dad loved her. Whenever Vera sang on TV, it drew teardrops from mum, who was admittedly bit of a softie. It was what Vera represented that was most important, a time when everybody pulled together for the sake of the nation.

I subsequently began to appreciate how much she meant to British people who had lived through the war. She was a genuine wartime hero. The White Cliffs of Dover must still send a little shiver down the spine of anyone who experienced those times. As the Daily Mirror commented in a tribute this week: "She was always there for us in our darkest hours."

A good tonic

You know someone has made it when there is a drink named after them and that's what happened to Vera.

Born in London's East End, the plumber's daughter maintained her cockney accent throughout her long life. During and after the war she had become a national icon and it was common in London pubs for patrons to ask for a "Vera" (Lynn), rhyming slang for gin.

In the UK, hand-painted Vera Lynn cocktail mugs with Vera in her green army outfit have always sold well and no doubt this will continue. Vera wasn't averse to the odd glass of champagne, but in her later life lemonade with a dash of red wine was her drink of choice.

Does anyone remember?

Vera's stature sometimes permeated the unlikeliest of settings. The music of Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, whose father was killed in the war, has long been influenced by those grim times. Waters held a particular fascination for the wartime singer and wrote a song simply called Vera, one of the lesser-known numbers on the hit album The Wall.

The song opens with "Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn? Remember how she said we would meet again some sunny day?" The elaborate Pink Floyd stage settings could not have been in starker contrast to Vera's simple presentation when she performed. Vera's We'll Meet Again was regularly played at the start of Pink Floyd concerts.

Burmese days

In 1944 Vera embarked on a gruelling three-month tour to entertain the troops in Burma (Myanmar), India and Egypt. Burma at that time wasn't a very healthy place to be, especially in the steamy jungle where she sometimes slept on a stretcher in a tent near the front line. Her bedtime music was gunfire and mortars.

One soldier who witnessed her concert in the Burma jungle admitted to The Times that not all the troops were that keen on her music. But when they saw her perform and put so much effort into it in such difficult conditions she was given a rousing reception that she would never forget. With encore after encore at the end of the show, Vera was absolutely drenched in perspiration.

Vera was so overwhelmed by the reception from the troops she called it "the highlight of my life" and she was later awarded the Burma Star medal.

As time goes by

One of Vera's post-war achievements was topping the music charts in 2009 at the age of 92, with an album of her greatest hits. There was a letter to The Times from an expat paying tribute to her: "What a lady, one of the few things of the Britain that I knew, loved and left."

Britain in 2020 is a very different place from the one Vera used to sing about 80 years ago, when life was a lot simpler and everything cost sixpence.

Sadly it's not all bluebirds, white cliffs and cups of tea anymore. Vera was aware of this first hand, having been burgled nine times in her village home.

With all that's going on at the moment, Britain is in desperate need of that communal spirit Vera invoked all those years ago.


Contact PostScript via email at oldcrutch@hotmail.com

Roger Crutchley

Bangkok Post columnist

A long time popular Bangkok Post columnist. In 1994 he won the Ayumongkol Literary Award. For many years he was Sports Editor at the Bangkok Post.

Email : oldcrutch@gmail.com

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