Forces sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn dies at 103.

Forces sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn dies at 103.

We all felt we knew Dame Vera Lynn who today died at the grand old age of 103. Vera Lynn was an extended member of our family, the friendly neighbour who thought nothing of sharing pleasantries and light hearted banter over the garden fence. She was the auntie we knew but didn't really know. She was that lovely old lady who would always proffer a smile and laugh even though she didn't know you that well.

You could confide in our Vera because she was always warmhearted and full of the joys of spring. She would ask you how your children were, bake a cake for the kids and then dispense her pearls of wisdom and sagacious advice because she loved life, sharing her infectious zest for living without ever questioning or judging you. She would hang her washing on the line, run upstairs to attend to her young daughter who was still crying like a baby because she was still a baby. Then her daughter would giggle in her cot and the echoes of the Second World War could still be heard.

Born in East Ham, a salt of the earth East Ender, Dame Vera Lynn captured the hearts of the whole of Britain and the rest of the world as the 'Forces Sweetheart', a heroic wartime heroine, the sweetest chanteuse, the all pervading, glorious influence who spread her infectious voice and love across diverse continents, war torn cities, towns and villages where the sound of the 'Doodlebug' became the most familiar soundtrack during six years of hell and purgatory.

On a thousand radio sets across the lands of England, the Commonwealth and farthermost points of  Asia and Africa, the voice of Dame Vera Lynn became the sound of hope, positivity and musical triumphalism where the guns, bullets and bombs threatened to obliterate the whole of the globe. She travelled the length and breadth of almost every army encampment and stood defiantly on stage with the voice of an angel. She knew what was going through the minds of those battle hardened soldiers who were fighting not only for their lives but for those who were suffering in the remotest corners of the planet. She gave of herself instinctively and unquestioningly because her voice was the voice of salvation.

But today our Vera, the woman and girl who illuminated all of our lives has passed and we can never thank Vera enough. For Vera was indeed the Forces Sweetheart, the singer who transformed the lives of so many young men who worshipped her from afar but wished they could be their girl. Of course the soldiers had wives and girlfriends waiting for them at home when demobbed after the Second World War but Vera Lynn was the one photo they would clutch to their hearts before lights went out.

Forevermore Dame Vera Lynn will always be associated with one anthem, with one song, one memorable anthem, the soundtrack to our lives at the present moment and the soundtrack that accompanied those who were sent away and sadly never came back. 'We'll Meet Again' has now a completely different and equally as emotional, topical resonance. It was, and remains, a powerful, victorious, heartwarming and, above all, tremendously inspirational song that still sends a shiver down the proverbial spine.

It dominated the record collection of every family across both Britain and the world and it was always on the lips of every man, woman, auntie and uncle whose instant identification with its meaning always made us feel good about ourselves. ' We'll Meet Again' was so stunningly appropriate that it almost became England's second National Anthem. For those of a sentimental disposition it means so much more than any of us could possibly imagine and now sounds like a heartfelt cry from the core of our being.

And so it is that we bid a fond farewell to the songbird from London's East End, a lifelong West Ham supporter, a fact that gladdens some of us no end. But when this now historic year wends itself regretfully into the distance we may hope that somewhere out there the voice of Dame Vera Lynn will boom out across the green, undulating hills of England. If there are bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover you may be sure that our Vera will still be there in spirit. Thanks Dame Vera.