Dame Vera Lynn—the English singer who performed for troops during World War II—died Thursday morning (June 18), the BBC reports. She was 103. Her best known songs include “We’ll Meet Again,” “There’ll Be Bluebirds Over,” and “There’ll Always Be an England.” She was appointed as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1975 and received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Classic Brit Awards in 2018.
Born Vera Margaret Welch in London in 1917, Lynn issued her earliest recorded works in the 1930s. During World War II, she hosted a popular radio program called “Sincerely Yours” and performed for troops in countries such as Myanmar and India, earning the nickname “the Forces’ Sweetheart.” After the war, Lynn would reach No. 1 in the U.S. with the single “Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart.”
In 2009—at age 92—Lynn released the compilation album We’ll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn, which topped the charts in the United Kingdom, making her the oldest living artist to achieve such a feat. In 2017, she released Vera Lynn 100 and became the first centenarian performer to place an album in the UK charts.