A north Wales veteran lays a wreath

Survivors of the event in June 1940 travelled to the French port for the final time on Sunday to pay their tributes to fallen comrades.

And a group of north Wales men held a special ceremony in remembrance of the 33 Holyhead men who died when their ship the Scotia was sunk there.

The men held their own ceremony on the beach and tossed a wreath of poppies into the sea.

Prince Charles led the dignitaries in marking the occasion, with his praise for the "Dunkirk spirit".

Dozens of Welsh veterans were among 700 who marched past the Prince of Wales outside Dunkirk town hall.

The Dunkirk Veterans Association - which includes dozens of ex-soldiers from Wales - will be disbanding after its final journey to the scene of the evacuation.

Emrys Thomas: Lucky to escape

The flotilla of ships that sailed from England to the French port helped rescue more than 340,000 British and French servicemen.

The ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary evacuation - the lowest point of the war for the Allies - will be the last high profile event of its kind.

Many of the veterans, whose average age is 84, will continue to stay in touch after the association calls it a day.

Veteran Emrys Thomas - from the association's Bangor branch - still remembers the anguish of not knowing if they would escape the advancing German army.

I prayed that something would happen to take me from there

Emrys Thomas, Dunkirk veteran

"There was many a time I thought 'I must pray to God for something to take me from here'.

"I was lucky that my name was not on a bomb or a bullet. There were so many bombs being dropped.

"I was very lucky to escape."

Mr Thomas was taken from the horror and confusion of the French beaches to safety aboard one of 850 vessels involved.

Fellow veteran Barney Holmes said: "I remember it was a very hot, dry day and there was a lot of dust from all those unfortunate civilians on their antiquated hand carts and perambulators.

"We were all lucky to get away and we are going back to say 'hello, here we are again and cheers'."