"We all appreciated her for what she was" Dame Vera Lynn's daughter on the Forces' sweetheart
20 June 2020, 13:05 | Updated: 20 June 2020, 14:40
Dame Vera Lynn's daughter on the life of the Forces' sweetheart
The daughter of Dame Vera Lynn told LBC that her mother "did what she thought was right" as a duty to her nation.
Virginia Lewis-Jones is the Vice-President of the Dame Vera Lynn Children's Charity and she was speaking to Matt Frei after the death of her mother, Dame Vera Lynn, the wartime songstress and Forces' sweetheart.
After she passed on at 103, Matt wanted to know "what was her secret for such a long life." Ms Lewis-Jones told him that her diet was a major factor in her health, and that her mind was "absolutely on the ball" into her later years even if her body deteriorated.
After The Queen referenced Dame Vera's song We'll Meet Again in her coronavirus speech, Ms Lewis-Jones told Matt that "we all thought it was hysterical really" but acknowledged the importance of the song for many.
"It still resonates today, with the lockdown" she said, and in 2020, Dame Vera's daughter stated that the song is "still very very apt."
Matt told Ms Lewis-Jones that her mother was "perhaps the thing that most reminded us on a weekly basis, on a monthly basis of the Second World War." He asked how Dame Vera saw her position in this regard.
Dame Vera Lynn on her career and the song 'We'll meet again'
"She was such an apolitical person" said Ms Lewis-Jones, adding that the We'll Meet Again singer "did what she thought was right, she did her duty" without thought for herself.
She added that Dame Vera was passionate about the war effort and acknowledged that "without the guys fighting for us, fighting for our freedom, you know, none of us may be here now."
When asked about the graffiti daubed on the Churchill monument in London, Ms Lewis-Jones told Matt that "she would be absolutely horrified" if she had seen what had been done.
Asked about how it felt to have a mother as famous as Dame Vera, Ms Lewis-Jones told Matt that "we all appreciated her for what she was" and never saw her as a figure, but as a mother.
She added that "anything she did was meaningful" and there was nothing she could reveal that showed the nobility of Dame Vera's character as much as the work the public already knew of.
