The 1940 Dunkirk Veterans' Association was an association of British service veterans "who served at Dunkirk and other ports of evacuation between 10 May and June 1940" – that is in the Dunkirk evacuation of 1940, including those who were taken prisoner. Associate membership was available to those "otherwise not qualified, but who had assisted at the ports of evacuation". At its peak membership in the mid 1970s over 20,000 veterans from the UK, with increasing numbers of ex-patriates and Commonwealth Dunkirk Veterans, would make the pilgrimage trip each year to honour their fallen comrades.