The body of George H.W. Bush was placed in the US Capitol to lie in state on Monday as mourners gathered to commemorate the 41st president’s lifetime of service to his country. Bush died Friday at age 94, at his home in Houston “a very gentle and peaceful passing,” in the words of his lifelong friend and advisor James Baker.
Only the second president to see his son follow him to the Oval Office, Bush is being honoured with four days of services and tributes in Washington and in Texas, where he will be buried Thursday. The high point of the commemorations will come Wednesday with a state funeral service at Washington National Cathedral the first presidential funeral since Gerald Ford died in 2006. US President Donald Trump was expected to visit the Capitol rotunda later Monday to pay his respects.
Bush was a decorated World War II fighter pilot, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, and vice president to Ronald Reagan before winning the White House. Members of the military served as pallbearers, carrying the flag-draped casket from a hearse into the rotunda for a ceremony attended by his son George W. Bush the nation’s 43rd president and other relatives, as well as Republican leaders and other top officials.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell lauded Bush who occupied the White House from 1989 to 1993 as a patriot who steered the country as straight as he had steered his airplane. “He kept us flying high and challenged us to fly higher still. And he did it with modesty and kindness that would have been surprising in someone one tenth as tough and accomplished as he was,” he added.
Bush was transported aboard the presidential Boeing 747 made available at Trump’s direction from Houston to Joint Base Andrews, in Maryland. The plane is only known as Air Force One when the sitting president is aboard. Family spokesman Jim McGrath said the flights to carry Bush were being dubbed “Special Air Mission 41.”
NAN
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