Located in the town cemetery of Dunkirk, France, the design by Commission architect Philip Hepworth features memorial panels, a shrine in the form of a shelter, and an engraved glass pane by John Hutton.

[3] The horticultural design included a holly hedge, and English herbaceous and flowering border plants such as stocks, thymes, primroses, phlox, heathers, and violas.

Also attending the ceremony were the Duke of Gloucester (President of the Imperial War Graves Commission), Sir Gladwyn Jebb (the British Ambassador to France), General Jean Ganeval (representing René Coty the President of France), Mayor Paul Asseman (the Mayor of Dunkirk), Field-Marshal Sir Gerald Templer (the Chief of the Imperial General Staff), and representatives of Empire (later Commonwealth) nations.

[8] In her address to the crowd, the Queen Mother declared: To-day we pay our tribute to the undying memory of all those brave men, soldiers, sailors, and airmen, who died in the hour of seeming defeat in order that in the fullness of time it could be turned to victory.

[5] The religious service included a dedication of the memorial by the Chaplain-General to the Forces Victor Pike, prayers by the Principal Roman Catholic Chaplain, Monsignor Bernard Navin, and the singing of "Land of Hope and Glory".

[7] Those named on the memorial include BEF servicemen who died on SS Abukir, a British steamship that was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea while evacuating Ostend on the last day of the Battle of Belgium.

[13] The service at the memorial was led by Royal Navy chaplain Gordon Warren who said: Whilst we thank God this weekend for those wartime miracles during the evacuation, let us never forget the precious souls who are commemorated here and who never came back.