Songs that remember war sacrifices

THOSE touched by the life of Dame Vera Lynn spoke of the quiet inspiration she gave as poignant tributes were left in her beloved Sussex village.

New Zealand singer Vicky Lee, who began to sing her famous songs to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli, revealed that Dame Vera had often encouraged her.

“She told me you don’t need to ask permission to sing these songs,” she said. “When these songs are sung we are acknowledging and remembering the lives of so many men and women that sacrificed so much so the songs must be kept going because it keeps those memories alive. I can’t tell you how full my heart is.”

A simple but poignant tribute to Dame Vera Lynn was placed at the village war memorial, with a Union Flag in the ground by the 1919 cenotaph. A total of 23 men from the village are thought to have lost their lives in the First World War.