Vera Lynn's wartime notes reveal comfort for families

3 hours ago

Tanya GuptaSouth East

News image — Archives show how Dame Vera faced the same challenging conditions as the troops

Getty Images Dame Vera Lynn makes an appearance near a replica Spitfire fighter plane at the 70th anniversary of WW2 Battle of Britain. — Archives show how Dame Vera faced the same challenging conditions as the troops

Previously unseen letters by Dame Vera Lynn to fans and her husband during World War Two have revealed her personal efforts to connect families separated by war.

Imperial War Museums has acquired her wartime archive, with some objects going on display this spring, while the wider collection is catalogued and conserved.

Items show how Dame Vera visited soldiers in hospitals in India and compiled lists of addresses, so she could write to wives, girlfriends and families to let them know their loved ones were safe.

She lived in Ditchling, East Sussex, for many years, and songs such as The White Cliffs of Dover gave her a close connection to Kent. She died in 2020, aged 103.

Dame Vera's daughter, Virginia Lewis-Jones, said her parents had kept all the items since the beginning of her mother's career.

She said her father, Harry Lewis, had played a "huge part" in his wife's life and work.

Lewis-Jones said the archive would inspire future generations with the "compassion, understanding, courage and hope" her mother brought to so many.

A black and white photograph shows Vera Lynn on her war time radio programme, Sincerely Yours. She has wavy hair and is wearing makeup and lipstick and is sitting in front of a microphone smiling at the camera. — The singer's BBC radio show, Sincerely Yours, drew in thousands of letters each week

The archive includes more than 600 fan letters, correspondence between Forces' Sweetheart Dame Vera and her husband and a diary detailing her 1944 tour of India and Burma.

It also contains "practical and unglamorous" khaki shorts from her tropical uniform, showing how she faced the same challenging conditions as the troops, museum staff said.

There are also papers linked to her BBC radio show, Sincerely Yours, which drew in up to 2,000 letters a week and connected listeners with loved ones serving overseas.

PA Media A curator wearing purple gloves holds Vera Lynn's personal diary detailing her 1944 tour of India. The pages have handwritten entries for each day and there are two days per page. The diary is open, showing entries for the 24 to 27 April 1944. — Dame Vera Lynn's notes detailed everything from the heat to hospital visits

'Bugs, tin tubs, hospital visits'

On 31 March 1944, the singer woke to a "false alarm" at 02:45 before an early flight. That night she "entertained the boys" and was in bed by 21:30.

Good Friday brought setbacks: "Lost piano, mike [sic] broke down, voice very bad". The next day, she wrote: "I can't speak, Len can't breathe. Cancelled show. Len goes to hospital, I'm bitten by bugs."

At Chittagong on 22 April, she wrote: "Had my first bath in a tin tub."

On St George's Day, she socialised with officers before a swim and "tea on the sands".

At a YMCA concert on 24 April, she signed hundreds of photographs, adding: "Never been so hot in my life."

Performing at a hospital on 12 May, she noted "very bad cases".

With two shows on 13 May, she dined in a tent with General Lantain, recording how it "poured" on the way to Chiripondy.

PA Media A curator holds an Auxiliary Territorial Service hat worn by Dame Vera Lynn. The curator is wearing gloves and the hat is supported by padding underneath in the close-up photograph. — The archive includes letters, a diary and some of her personal items

Museum staff said Dame Vera became a symbol of hope and a lifeline for families – and represented how "love can survive separation, uncertainty and fear".

Curator Simon Offord said the archive provided a "rich insight" into her personal experience and shone a light on the millions who found comfort in her music.