Singer Katherine Jenkins has been united in song with "forces' sweetheart" Dame Vera Lynn for a recording of the popular wartime hit We'll Meet Again, which will be released in June.

Almost three-quarters of a century after Dame Vera gave the nation inspiration in the Second World War with the song, a new version has been put together to create a virtual duet.

Jenkins, who shares a record label with the veteran star, has recorded a new vocal which has been grafted on to the original by studio wizards.

It was given its first radio play yesterday and will be released on June 2 on a new album Vera Lynn: National Treasure - The Ultimate Collection collection to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings.

Jenkins has, like Dame Vera before her, done her bit for British troops by performing for them during a visit to Afghanistan last year and she recorded her part in the past few days.

The new duet will also be brought to life during the week of the album's release when Jenkins performs at the D-Day 70 Years On concert at the Royal Albert Hall on June 6 for BBC Radio 2, accompanying original footage of Dame Vera.

The 97-year-old said: "It makes me proud and honoured to know that We'll Meet Again is still so popular, over seven decades after it was first recorded.

"I remember that day as clearly as if it were yesterday, and it is wonderful that this particular song became the one people most associated with the war era. For it to be brought to life again, duetting with Katherine Jenkins, is just perfect for the occasion."

Hollywood actor Patrick Stewart will also play Sir Winston Churchill as he leads a cast of stars at the special commemorative event at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

It is part of the BBC Radio 2's D-Day activity which culminates in a special Friday Night Is Music Night, D-Day 70 Years On on June 6.

Dame Vera's We'll Meet Again is among the most famous Second World War songs and will have been in the hearts and minds of the soldiers who travelled to Normandy for the largest amphibious invasion in world history on the beaches that marked the start of the end of the conflict.