'She lifted the nation in our darkest times' - nation honours the life of Dame Vera Lynn

Dame Vera Lynn always promised we would meet again. And a few weeks after the 103-year-old passed away peacefully at her East Sussex home, crowds gathered to hail the ‘forces’ sweetheart’ for one final time as she was laid to rest.

After a week of dreary drizzle, it was a sunny day – and one laced with meaning, too, coinciding with the 80^thanniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Britain and the Luftwaffe bombing campaign where Dame Vera’s songs would do so much to rally the nation’s spirits.

Ahead of the funeral, a giant portrait of Dame Vera was beamed on to the White Cliffs of Dover. By mid-morning hundreds had gathered in the picturesque village of Ditchling where Dame Vera lived for 60 years.

Among those lining the streets were neighbours who adored the Dame in their midst, who despite her fame always had time for everyone. Others had come from far and wide.

William Baker's father served with the Royal Navy in the Second World War and was one of the soldiers entertained by Dame Vera, watching her perform on several occasions. She always called them her "boys" and they loved her in equal measure - so much so that Baker's father had made him promise before his death 15 years ago that he would attend her funeral on his behalf.

“He said that she helped morale in an unimaginable way by coming to see them,” Baker said.

The funeral cortege left Dame Vera’s family home shortly before midday and made a slow procession through the village flanked by 12 members from all three armed services, including the Coldstream Guards in full ceremonial dress and the Queen’s Colour Squadron representing the RAF.

Dame Vera’s coffin was draped in a Union flag with a bouquet of flowers and her medals resting on top. Among them was the Burma Star which she was awarded in recognition of her morale-boosting tour of the frontline in 1944, where she performed for audiences that ranged from 6,000 to two patients too ill to be moved from a casualty clearing station.

One of those she performed to was Captain Sir Tom Moore who ahead of her funeral warmly recalled her visit to Burma. "There she was, this lovely English girl… she was a great person to give us a lot more confidence and we were very, very pleased to see her," he said.

The 100-year-old also mentioned recently receiving a letter from Dame Vera (a prodigious letter writer up to the very end) praising him for his efforts raising millions for the NHS during lockdown. Speaking for a nation he admitted he “always had a soft spot in my heart for Dame Vera”.

As the cortege came to a stop in the middle of the village alongside standard bearers from the Royal British Legion, the bells from St Margaret’s Church rang out and the distinctive roar of the Merlin engines of two Spitfires echoed overhead.

The aircraft (belonging to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight) included the only airworthy Spitfire in existence to have flown against the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. Flown by the Polish pilot Ludwik Martel, it was shot down on October 25, 1940. Despite being wounded he still managed to crash-land in a field in Hastings. The other Spitfire yesterday bore the black and white livery of the D Day landings.  The aircraft looped twice around the village through the bright blue sky before performing a final flypast over the cortege as it stood at rest.

As the cortege made its way out of the village, there were shouts of "hip hip hooray" from the crowd in Dame Vera's honour, followed by a spontaneous rendition of her wartime song 'We'll Meet Again' which has taken on fresh relevance in the modern age and early on in the coronavirus lockdown was quoted in the Queen's address to the nation.

The cortege continued to Brighton Crematorium for a private ceremony for Dame Vera’s family where a bugler from the Royal Marines sounded Last Post. A public memorial event is planned at a later date. Virginia Lewis-Jones, Dame Vera's daughter, later thanked the nation for its “tremendous support” over the past few weeks. She added: "my mother always appreciated receiving messages from all over the world, and Ditchling was always particularly special to her, that is why we know she would be touched that so many people want to pay their respects."

Back in Ditchling neighbours spoke warmly of Dame Vera, who before her stellar career took off was a plumber’s daughter from Essex affording her a common touch she never lost.

One typical tale of the lack of airs and graces she displayed was during the aftermath of the Great Storm of 1987. Dame Vera was spotted out the following morning in a khaki boiler suit and red bobble hat helping shift the fallen trees from the road.

Jane Lantsbury, 67, who has lived in the village since she was born and was among those paying their respects, recalled the many occasions when she and Dame Vera would eat Sunday lunch together in the local pub.

"She was the first to have a big Yorkshire pudding with all the roast inside,” she said. "They called it the Vera Lynn."

As fitting for a woman who united a nation, the tributes poured in from every echelon of society. The Queen has been among those to send private messages of condolences to Dame Vera’s family and the Chief of Defence Staff, Sir Nick Carter, hailed her “stirring performances” which “lifted the nation during the darkest of times.”

But equally poignant were the simple tributes left by those whose lives she had touched.

At the Ditchling war memorial, which bears the names of 13 men from the village killed in the Second World War, an unknown mourner yesterday planted a Union flag in the earth with a message reading: ‘Dame Vera R.I.P.’