Dame Vera Lynn told of pride that Queen used her 'we'll meet again' line in her coronavirus speech in her last interview

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.

And Dame Vera said she believed those poignant words would again bolster a beleaguered nation.

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 evening.

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 has 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.

Leading bookmaker Coral gave odds of 2-1 that the song will 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 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.

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.”

The singer married clarinetist and saxophonist Harry Lewis in 1941. In 1946 their only child Virginia was born. Harry died in 1998.

Now Britain is again being boosted by the sentiments Dame Vera conjured up in her song a lifetime ago.

So dig deep for our Who Cares Wins campaign for the NHS heroes who will help us to one day meet again

One of her last acts was to backThe 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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