Hundreds of people turned out to support the 61st St Nazaire service in Falmouth which pays tribute to the men responsible for a major victory of the Second World War.
The event was also the last to be organised by Eric Dawkins, who is stepping down after 30 years.
The responsibility will be taken on by Falmouth Town Council, which already has an active role.
The service remembers the heroic actions of the 622 sailors and commandos on a "suicide mission" to the French port of St Nazaire on March 28, 1942.
They took HMS Cambeltown, packed with explosives and disguised as a German gunboat, along with a fleet of 16 armed vessels to destroy the port's submarine base.
It worked, but 168 men were killed.
Five Victoria Crosses and 60 other medals were awarded, with 51 men mentioned in Dispatches.
A parade, led by ten of the Royal British Legion Cornish Riders branch members, went from the Moor to the Prince of Wales Pier, where the memorial is.
Mayor Geoffrey Evans laid the first wreath, followed by about 20 others.
Veteran Bill Bannister, 95, from Plymouth, laid a wreath on behalf of the St Nazaire Society, with his great-grandson, Luke Hudson, aged 16.
Mr Dawkins, 83, said: "It was outstanding. So many organisations turned out, it was certainly one of the biggest we have had."