LEP column was epitaph to the ‘wonderful’ Vera Lynn
Jimmy Cricket’s latest newspaper column was devoted to Dame Vera Lynn – just weeks before she died.
Dame Vera passed away on Thursday (18 June) aged 103.
She was known the Forces’ Sweetheart, whose songs helped raise morale in World War Two.
The Queen, Prince Charles and Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney were among those to pay their respects to her.
People knew her best for her wartime anthem We’ll Meet Again.
Jimmy’s column in the Preston-based Lancashire Post on 18 May (above) was all about Dame Vera.
The headline read: Remembering the forces’ WWII sweetheart Vera Lynn.
“The BBC reported: “Six weeks ago, ahead of the 75th anniversary of VE Day and during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Dame Vera said simple acts of bravery and sacrifice still define our nation.
“A week later, she became the oldest artist to get a top 40 album in the UK.”
The BBC recalled that Dame Vera had sold more than a million records by the age of 22.
The article added that she “was also remembered for singing The White Cliffs Of Dover, There’ll Always Be An England, I’ll Be Seeing You, Wishing and If Only I Had Wings.
“The Queen echoed her famous WW2 anthem during a speech to Britons who were separated from families and friends during the coronavirus lockdown in April, telling the nation: ‘We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again.'”