Tower of London surrounded by poppies lit up to mark VE Day

At the stroke of 9pm, an expectant hush fell upon the Tower of London. A bell tolled the hour and the ravens crowed as they flew about their domain.

It was not a designated moment of silence but a beat of poignancy before the band struck up. Then, to the sound of American swing, the White Tower turned red as 30,000 poppies were illuminated.

The veterans looked on from their wheelchairs, wrapped in blankets against the chilly night. In the crowd too were young cadets and, soon after the formalities were over, the youngsters ran off through the grounds to get a better look.

The ceramic poppies were reused from a poignant design from 2014

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE

The Queen viewed the installation on Tuesday before the poppies were illuminated

STEFAN ROUSSEAU/PA

It was a dazzling end to an evening that, like most other VE Day commemorations this week, had balanced poignant remembrance with joyous celebration. Earlier, those cadets had paid their tribute to this most venerated generation at a remembrance service. Yeoman warders and members of the Tower community, as well as firefighters and the poet laureate, all shared stories and gestures of marking the past.

These included a reflection on the life of yeoman warder Samuel Reeves, who was in the North Bastion of the Tower when it was hit (not for the first time) during the Blitz on October 5, 1940. Buried under rubble, he died as he was being rescued. His grandson, Roger, read the tribute.

The veterans, meanwhile, were fighting another battle — against the elements. Though it was a still and dry night the limited warmth of the day was gone, yet the heroes of the hour remained indefatigable and warmed up after the service at a champagne reception.

“I’m still standing,” said Harry Rice, 99, a veteran of the Battle of Normandy who had danced at last year’s D-Day commemorations at Arromanches. Upon being reminded of this, he brought his twinkle toes out again for a second, albeit with the aid of a walking stick.

“I’ve got to keep going until February 27 next year — that’ll be my 100th birthday,” he said. “You’ll make sure I get there, won’t you?”

30,000 poppies were used to create the installation

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE

Once fed, watered and warmed, the veterans trooped out again to see the illumination. Eleven years ago, these same ceramic poppies had been displayed in far greater numbers: 888,246 of them had spilled out over the walls to represent the dead of the First World War. An onlooker remarked how this new design — focused around a crown by the White Tower — had taken the same material and turned it into something celebratory.

Yet remembrance was present too as the veteran codebreaker Pat Owtram spoke of her memories of May 8, 1945 and shouting “we want the King” with the crowds outside Buckingham Palace. However, she also noted how that great day was not the end.

“My father had been taken prisoner in the Far East and we hadn’t seen him for three or four years,” she said. “That autumn brought the prisoners home by sea, because they were very undernourished and they wanted to strengthen them up a bit. It took a few weeks, and then he did come home.”

Finally, Brigadier Andrew Jackson, the governor of the Tower, did the honours. Just as on VE Day, when searchlights turned their gaze from the skies and onto landmarks after five years of blackout, the White Tower was lit up — this time in red. From the top of the 1,000-year-old white stone, crimson poppies tumbled.