Speaking outside Westminster Abbey, D-Day veteran Peter Kent said it meant "a lot" to see people still honouring those who served.
The 100-year-old, from Westminster, served in the Royal Navy aboard HMS Adventurer and took part in the Normandy landings.
The father-of-two said: "So many young boys got killed, so many dead bodies on the beach – it was just a big waste of life. It was terrible.
We wouldn't have the freedom we have today if it wasn't for those men."
At 18:30 BST, churches and cathedrals across the country rang their bells, which the Church of England said echoed the sounds that swept across the country in 1945.
In Scotland, the national piper played a lament at dawn for the fallen on Portobello Beach in Edinburgh, and a convoy of Norwegian fishing boats were travelling to Shetland to commemorate the "Shetland Bus" operation that rescued many refugees during the war.
Northern Ireland marked VE Day with a series of events, including a tea dance at Belfast City Hall.
In Wales, attendees at church services observed silence and laid wreaths, and a knitted poppy cascade of 1,000 individual flowers was displayed outside the veterans' hub in Connah's Quay.
The Royal British Legion hosted a tea party with veterans at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, England.
Celebrations are likely to continue until late into the night, with pubs and bars given permission to stay open for two extra hours.
The 80th anniversary celebrations of VE day began on Monday with a military procession and Red Arrows flypast, with thousands lining the Mall near Buckingham Palace to watch.
An exhibit of nearly 30,000 ceramic poppies also returned to the Tower of London.
