The Admiralty requested that the substitution be done with no ceremony and only involve the minimum number of people necessary for the task. On 1 April 1943, exactly a quarter of a century after the foundation of the RAF, an RAF Ensign was substituted for the White Ensign on the west side of the Cenotaph, with the change being effected just after dawn. Later the same day at 11:30a.m., an RAF Regiment guard paraded at the Cenotaph and a wreath was placed underneath the RAF Ensign.