Senator John McCain's body to lie in
state at Arizona State Capitol
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[August 29, 2018]
By David Schwartz
PHOENIX (Reuters) - The body of John
McCain, who endured 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and went
on to become a lion of the U.S. Senate and a two-time Republican
candidate for president, will lie in state on Wednesday in the Arizona
state capitol.
The daylong public viewing of his casket was due to kick off five days
of memorial tributes in Phoenix and Washington for McCain, who died on
Saturday at his ranch in Cornville, Arizona, from brain cancer. He was
81.
Wednesday's observance was to open with a private ceremony inside the
Rotunda of the Arizona statehouse, after which members of the public
were invited to pay their respects from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. local time.
McCain is only the third individual so honored in Arizona's state
capitol over the past 40 years, organizers of the ceremony said. The two
others were state Senator Marilyn Jarrett in 2006 and Olympic gold
medalist Jesse Owens, a Tucson resident, in 1980.
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A memorial service, to be attended by family, friends, political leaders
and other dignitaries, is scheduled for Thursday at the North Phoenix
Baptist Church. McCain's body will be flown afterward to Andrews Air
Force Base outside Washington.
His body will then lie in state on Friday at the U.S. capitol for
another memorial ceremony and public viewing, to be followed on Saturday
by a funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral.
McCain, who parlayed his status as a Vietnam War hero into a
decades-long political career, served two terms in the U.S. House of
Representatives before he was elected to the Senate in 1986.
His family has said that the senator, who frequently battled publicly
with U.S. President Donald Trump, did not want the president to attend
his funeral.
On Sunday, McCain is to be buried in a private ceremony at the U.S.
Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he graduated as a U.S. Navy
officer in 1958 before going on to become a fighter pilot.
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![](../images/082918pics/news_a3.jpg)
A makeshift memorial stands outside the offices of the late U.S.
Senator John McCain in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., August 28, 2018.
REUTERS/Brian Snyder
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McCain, the son and grandson of Navy admirals, will be laid to rest
beside his Naval Academy classmate and lifelong friend, the late
Admiral Chuck Larson, organizers said.
The memorial tributes followed a few days of confusion at the White
House over whether American flags at U.S. government buildings would
be flown at half-staff, in the traditional gesture for prominent
political figures who die.
The White House initially lowered its U.S. flag to half-staff on
Saturday, raised it back up, and on Monday lowered it again in an
unusual break with protocol.
Trump also delayed the customary proclamation for flags to remain at
half-staff longer than the two-day minimum. But under pressure from
military veterans and members of Congress, Trump finally issued a
statement on Monday saying he respected McCain's service to the
country and had ordered flags to half-staff.
(Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles;
Editing by Michael Perry)
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