It commemorates those of the British Expeditionary Force who died or were captured there and have no known grave.
Although not in the Netherlands, a number of these men might have been washed up on the Dutch coast as unknown.
After the fall of Calais, Dunkirk was the only major channel port in the hands of the British Expeditionary Force. The decision to withdraw to the coast with the hope of evacuating as many men as possible from Dunkirk and the neighbouring beaches was made. Naval vessels and hundreds of civilian boats were used in the rescue.
Dunkirk was the scene of the historic evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from France in May and June 1940. Known as Operation Dynamo, it was the largest evacuation of Allied forces during the Second World War.
Dunkirk Memorial commemorates more than 4,500 casualties of the British Expeditionary Force who died or were captured there and have no known grave.
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Philip Reinders, 2016