Vera Lynn, singer and 'forces' sweetheart', dies aged 103

Dame Vera Lynn, singer and 'forces' sweetheart', dies aged 103
The ‘forces’ sweetheart’, whose voice brought Britain together during the second world war, has died

Vera Lynn, whose song We’ll Meet Again became an anthem of hope and resilience during the second world war, has died aged 103.

                           Dame Vera Lynn dead: Forces' Sweetheart dies aged 103

Her family said they were “deeply saddened to announce the passing of one of Britain’s best-loved entertainers,” and that they were with her when she died at her East Sussex home.

Labour politician Angela Rayner was among the first to pay tribute, calling her “a beautiful person who will be sadly missed by all who her knew her”.

Born in East Ham, on the outskirts of London, in 1917, Vera Lynn survived a near-fatal case of diphtheria as a two-year old, and began performing aged seven. From the age of 18 she began performing with orchestras in the UK, and released her debut solo recording, Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire, in 1936, while she worked in an East End shipping company.

She became more widely known during the second world war, and performed to people sheltering in the stations of London’s underground. She became popular among soldiers and earned the nickname “the forces’ sweetheart”, touring for troops in Egypt, India and Myanmar, then known as Burma, during the war. “Singing in the jungle was very hot and very sticky, which was a bit hard going,” she told the Guardian in 2017. “I had a little piano, which they trudged around on the back of a lorry, hoping it would survive the journeys.”

Her wartime popularity was boosted by her signature song, We’ll Meet Again, released in 1939. Its wistful melody and determinedly optimistic lyrics – “I know we’ll meet again some sunny day” – proved powerfully uplifting for departing soldiers, and it has endured as the defining song of the British campaign. It re-entered the UK charts this year at No 55 amid 75th anniversary celebrations of VE Day.

                               Forces' Sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn dies aged 103

The White Cliffs of Dover, in which Lynn hymns the British coastline as she hopes for peace, is another of her enduring patriotic songs – written by Walter Kent and Nat Burton, it was originally released in 1942. The far right British National Party (BNP) featured it and used its title for a compilation album of British songs in 2009 – Lynn objected, and took legal action over the release.

We’ll Meet Again and The White Cliffs of Dover were released too early to enjoy chart success originally, but Lynn did top the UK charts for two weeks in 1954 with My Son, My Son, a heartfelt ballad from a mother to her son. She is also the oldest person to have reached the top of the UK album charts, which she achieved with a best-of compilation in 2009. A compilation marking her 100th birthday reached No 3 in 2017.

Share:

Read More

Pressure grows on India's Modi after deadly skirmish with China over Himalayan border

Pressure grows on India's Modi after deadly skirmish with China over Himalayan border

They fought with fists, stones, and bamboo poles with nails in them, in a bloody brawl that left around two dozen people dead.

More details are emerging about a clash late Monday night along a disputed border between India and China high in the Himalayas, which has ratcheted up tension between the two nuclear-armed neighbors and left officials on both sides scrambling to deescalate.

Pressure is growing on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to respond to the incident, in which at least 20 Indian soldiers died and many more were injured, according to a statement from the army. China also suffered casualties, the Indian army said, though neither side has released any figures.

Writing on Twitter Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi, a senior leader within India's main opposition Congress Party, asked "Why is the Prime Minister silent? Why is he hiding?"

"Enough is enough. We need to know what has happened," Gandhi said. "How dare China kill our soldiers? How dare they take our land?"

The incident is only the latest crisis for Modi, who is already facing intense criticism over his government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 354,000 people across the country, and killed nearly 12,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. Multiple Indian states have extended their lockdowns as they struggle to contain the outbreak.

"The timing is just terrible all around," said Alyssa Ayres, senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. "India is grappling with an economic crisis that began prior to but has been dramatically worsened by the coronavirus lockdown, and is still seeing a slow case increase so must face the public health implications, and now has live border problems with three countries: Pakistan, China, and Nepal."

Modi has not yet commented publicly on the incident, but his office said in a tweet Wednesday that he had called for an all party meeting on Friday "to discuss the situation in the India-China border areas."

Deadly brawl

The incident occurred during a "deescalation process" underway in the Galwan Valley in the disputed Aksai Chin-Ladakh area, where a large troop buildup has reportedly been taking place for weeks now on both sides of the border, before senior military commanders began talks earlier this month.

The Indian army had earlier said three soldiers had died, but added late Tuesday that a further 17 troops "who were critically injured in the line of duty at the standoff location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain have succumbed to their injuries."

The deaths are the first military casualties along the two countries' disputed border for more than 40 years.

According to a source with the Indian armed forces, the deadly fight between soldiers started after Chinese troops erected a tent in the disputed area after the deescalation began, which Indian forces pulled down, leading to a heated exchange.

On Monday, June 15, Chinese troops returned with reinforcements and assaulted the Indian troops, the source said, adding there was "intent to harm the Indian soldiers."

"They used stones, bamboo sticks with nails to attack the Indian soldiers. The Indian soldiers were not ready for the assault," said the source, adding that the brawl led to severe injuries, which were exacerbated by the sub-zero temperatures and high altitude.

The standoff lasted between four to five hours and that by the time Indian reinforcements got to the spot, many had lost their lives, the source said.

CNN is unable to independently confirm this account of events. So far China has not given an official account of events.

"The loss of soldiers in Galwan is deeply disturbing and painful," India's defense minister, Rajnath Singh, tweeted Wednesday. "Our soldiers displayed exemplary courage and valour in the line of duty and sacrificed their lives in the highest traditions of the Indian Army.

At a regular news conference Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that on Monday, "Indian troops seriously violated our consensus and twice crossed the border line for illegal activities and provoked and attacked Chinese personnel which lead to serious physical conflict between the two sides."

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) released a statement Tuesday night calling on the Indian army to immediately stop what it described as "provocative actions" and to "resolve the issue through the correct track of dialogue and talks."

"The sovereignty of the Galwan Valley region has always belonged to China," Zhang Shuili, the spokesman of the Western Theater said in a statement on China's Ministry of Defense website. "Indian troops violated its commitment, crossed the borderline for illegal activities and deliberately launched provocative attacks."

Zhang added that the "serious physical conflict between the two sides" had "resulted in casualties."

Hu Xijin, editor of the Chinese government-backed tabloid Global Times, said on Twitter that the fact China had not released a casualty figure was a sign of "goodwill from Beijing."

"My understanding is the Chinese side doesn't want people of the two countries to compare the casualties number so to avoid stoking public mood," said Hu, who has strong ties to the Chinese leadership and military.

His conciliatory tone is a striking contrast to the jingoistic chest-thumping of his newspaper in recent weeks, which has published article after article on Chinese troop maneuvers, armaments and military might in the region.

Growing tensions

Tensions have been growing in the Himalayas along one of the world's longest land borders since last month, with New Delhi and Beijing both accusing the other of overstepping the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the loosely defined demarcation line that separates the two nuclear armed neighbors.

The LAC, which runs between Chinese-controlled Aksai Chin and the rest of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region, was drawn up in the wake of the India-China border dispute in 1962.

The reported troop build up along the line has led to concerns that the two sides could again be inching towards conflict, particularly as both Chinese and Indian media have published jingoistic calls for action.

Both Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have built public support in large part on nationalism and a promise of future greatness. This often translates into aggressive rhetoric, particularly when playing to a domestic audience.

Such an approach was evidenced in Chinese coverage of recent PLA maneuvers in the Himalayas. Equally, despite Delhi's public calls for easing tensions, leading Indian government figures have struck an aggressive tone, with Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah telling a rally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier this month that "any intrusion into the the borders of India will be punished."

"Some used to say that US and Israel were the only countries which were willing and capable of avenging every drop of the blood of their soldiers," Shah said. "(Modi) has added India to that list.''

Writing for CNN this month, retired Indian general Singh said that part of the problem is that the de facto border, the LAC, is so ill defined.

"At strategic and operational levels, both militaries have exercised restraint," he said. "However, at the tactical level, face-offs occur due to differing perceptions of where the actual border is as the LAC is not delineated on the ground. While face-offs get resolved locally, those related to the building of infrastructure, such as roads and defence fortifications, invariably take longer and require a combination of military and diplomatic initiatives."

Share:

Read More