A SERVICE to commemorate the members of the Belgian Armed Forces who were based in and around Tenby during World War II will take place tomorrow (Sunday).

The service will honour the Belgian personnel that escaped mainland Europe from 1940.

Also being recognised will be the Belgians who chose to serve in the wartime Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, Commando Forces and other special forces.

The service will be held at St Mary’s Church, and will be followed by a parade to the town’s war memorial, where a commemorative plaque will be unveiled and wreaths laid.

The Lord Lieutenant, Sara Edwards, will arrive at St Mary’s Church at 9.45am.

During the service, Mayor of Tenby, Cllr Dai Morgan, will grant the freedom of the town to the Belgian contingent – which will be headed up by Lt. Gen. Marc Thys, who was until recently the Belgian Vice Chief of Defence.

It is hoped that during the parade, people will line the route waving Belgian flags, which Tenby Town Council has in stock for parade-goers to collect.

The Belgian military headquarters was located in Tenby at the Atlantic Hotel, with troops being billeted in the town, surrounding villages and at Penally Camp.

The bulk of these forces later became the Brigade Piron which was attached, in August 1944, to the 6th UK Division and subsequently engaged in the Liberation of Brussels.

“For the first time since the Second World War the presence of Belgium and its armed forces in Wales will be commemorated and remembered, recognising the important part played by Tenby,” said Lt Col (Retd) CA Le Hardy, project officer for the Tenby Memorial Committee.

“Tenby has an importance to Belgium beyond historical links: tourism, trade, and economics. It is where the remaining Belgium Armed Forces were assembled after the catastrophe of the battle for Belgium and France in May 1940.

“As military refugees, shattered by war, it was crucial for morale to find a place of security and recovery for these young servicemen.

“It was here, in Tenby that the generosity of spirit enabled a renaissance to take place. It only happened because five senior characters took the decision that Belgium would continue to fight, from England rather than France, against the scourge of national socialism perpetrated by the Nazi party of Germany.

!It was made by Emile de Cartier, the Belgian ambassador in London, his two Military attachés Colonel Wouters and Major Cumont and the arrival of a senior Lieutenant General, Victor van Strydonck on May 23. Subsequently the decision was endorsed by the Belgian Minister of Defence, Henri Denis.

“Two days later the general was in Tenby. The Military Centre was up and running and receiving Belgian soldiers, airmen and sailors that had escaped either at Dunkirk and subsequently from German occupied Europe.”