Dame Vera Lynn Collection

At the height of her BBC radio show Sincerely Yours, Vera Lynn received up to 2,000 letters a week. More than 600 of them came to IWM in 2026, given by her daughter Virginia Lewis-Jones along with Lynn's letters to her husband Harry Lewis, the diary of her 1944 tour to entertain troops in India, and pieces of her tropical uniform.

What's out is a small selection of personal letters and uniform items, in one display on Level 1 at the entrance to the Second World War Galleries. You pass it on the way into those galleries, so treat it as a stop there rather than a trip of its own. The rest of the archive is being conserved and catalogued for later.

Entry to IWM London is free and you don't need to book. The display runs until 2 April 2027.