“We'll Meet Again” - Vera Lynn
On 1 September 1939, German troops, tanks, and air support crossed the frontier into Poland, beginning the European phase of history’s most destructive and sanguinary conflict. Two days later, 3 September, belatedly acknowledging the necessity to oppose Hitler’s repeated violations of his neighboring nations’ sovereignty, England and France declared war on Germany, demanding it withdraw from Polish territory.
Earlier that year, the amazingly talented English 23-year-old English singer Vera Lynn recorded Ross Parker and Hughie Charles’ “We’ll Meet Again.” As the UK mobilized for war, the hopeful lyrics resonated with citizens confronting yet another awful war on the continent. Hundreds-of-thousands young men in bus and train depots across the nation bade a tearful farewell to sweethearts and family as they departed for a war from which tens-of-thousands would never return. The song’s popularity would quickly spread to England’s allies as well.
Even today, this song retains its association with the hopes and aspirations of those nations resisting Hitler’s depredations. For example, on 5 May of every year, the citizens of the Netherlands celebrate Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day), commemorating the end of the Nazi Occupation. The holiday includes a concert in Amsterdam which traditionally closes with the monarch departing on a barge as the orchestra plays “We’ Meet Again,” accompanied by the singing of spectators in an incredibly moving ceremony as you can see in the following video.
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