For the first time since the Second World War the presence of Belgium and its armed forces in Wales were commemorated and remembered on Sunday, September 24 at a special service and parade recognising the important part played by Tenby.
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.
On Sunday, September 24 with the gracious support of His Majesty's Lord Lieutenant, Miss Sara Edwards the seaside town of Tenby welcomed an official delegation from Belgium led by Lieutenant General Marc Thys ADC to the King of the Belgians and until very recently Vice Chief of Defence.
The delegation comprised of six senior officers and a civilian party of fifty organised by the Tenby Memorial Committee.
These successor generations of those brave and intrepid Belgians that made the dangerous journey across occupied Europe to the Western shores of Pembrokeshire, include a dozen family members of Anglo Belgians that married and settled in the United Kingdom.
The celebrations were supported by Tenby Town Council and Pembrokeshire County Council; the three leading senior officers from the Royal Navy the army and the Royal Air Force in Wales; a small detachment of the Queens Dragoon Guards; the Welsh cavalry regiment with a Jackal reconnaissance vehicle and the band of the Prince of Wales’s regiment; all, as ever, supported by the local branches of the Royal British Legion.
During the service in St Mary’s Church the testimonies of exploits from a selection of families were heard. Tenby’s Mayor, Cllr Dai Morgan was present to offer the Freedom of the Town to the successor families.
Afterwards the visitors paraded through the town to the War Memorial on South Parade where a commemorative plaque was unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant and wreaths laid after a short service of Remembrance.
