Dame Vera Margaret Lynn was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during World War II. She is honorifically known as the "Forces' Sweetheart", having given outdoor concerts for the troops in Egypt, India and Burma during the war as part of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). The songs most associated with her include "We'll Meet Again", "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover", "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "There'll Always Be an England".
Portrait by Allan Warren, c. 1973
Lynn sings at a munitions factory in wartime Britain, early 1941.
Vera Lynn in 1973
Lynn in 2009
Entertainments National Service Association
The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes. It was superseded by Combined Services Entertainment (CSE) which now operates as part of the Services Sound and Vision Corporation (SSVC).
An ENSA concert party entertaining troops from the steps of a chateau in Normandy, 26 July 1944
ENSA Glamour Girls distribute cigarettes and beer to troops in North Africa, 26 July 1942.
The founders of the ENSA, Basil Dean (above) and Leslie Henson (below)
Image: Leslie Henson
