Dame Vera Lynn to be honoured at funeral with Spitfire and Hurricane flypast

A flypast is set to honour Dame Vera Lynn’s memory at her upcoming funeral. 

The singer, known for We’ll Meet Again and being the Forces’ ‘sweetheart’ throughout WW2, died in June aged 103. She will be laid to rest in a private service in Sussex on July 10th. 

A ceremonial Battle of Britain Memorial Flight consisting of Spitfire and Hurricane planes will fly over the village of Ditchling where she lived at noon.

Her body is set to leave the family home at 11:40am and will pause in the village to allow residents to pay their respects.

From there, Dame Vera will be taken to Woodvale Crematorium in Brighton. Service people will line the route outside the chapel with a military bearer party in place to carry the coffin inside. 

A Royal Marines bugler will play music for the service which will be attended by a senior officer from the Ministry of Defence. 

The ceremony itself will be a private affair with just a small number of family members to abide by social distancing. A full memorial service will be planned for a later date.  

May this year saw Dame Vera became the oldest artist to achieve a top 40 in the UK, when her greatest hits album reentered the charts as part of the 75th anniversary VE Day events.

‘We’ll meet again’ was echoed by the Queen during the lockdown in April when she said: “We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again.”

Dame Vera was born in East Ham in 1917.

She performed for troops on the frontline during the Second World War around the world, often at a great personal risk.