Vera Lynn’s Burmese days
SIR: Leafing through the May issue of The Oldie over my breakfast coffee, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I examined the picture of Vera Lynn with ‘the boys’ in Burma. Snuggled next to her in the army Jeep, looking slightly smug, as well he might, was the unmistakable face of my father – this was a moment that none of us three sons had ever heard him mention. He said so little about his time in the army. He served in India in the 1930s, was in the BEF in France, and was among those rescued from Dunkirk. He was then posted to India and thence to Burma. He must have experienced immense hardships that he shielded us from. Looking at the picture on VE Day made it all the more poignant as we raised a glass to him. At least we now know he had one moment of light relief in Burma. I shall treasure the image. Tim Ellis, Cambridge