The remains of Senator John McCain left the Arizona state capitol for a memorial service in Phoenix where former Vice President will lead the tributes.
Cindy McCain and the McCain family escorted his body.
It was the second day McCain’s widow and her children were in the spotlight as the nation spends the next few days mourning the Republican senator from Arizona.
John McCain’s body leaves the Arizona capitol
Cindy McCain and her family arrive at the Capitol to escort McCain’s body
Cindy and children Jimmy, in his Army dress uniform; Jack, in his Navy dress whites; Meghan and Bridget stood in front of the Capitol building while officers from Jimmy’s platoon carried McCain’s flag-draped casket out the building and loaded it onto a hearse for transport to North Phoenix Baptist Church.
After the memorial service, the Arizona National Guard will escort McCain’s body to Washington D.C., where he will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol on Friday before his funeral service at the National Cathedral on Saturday.
Biden and McCain served in Congress together for more than two decades and the former vice president visited the senator at his ranch in Sedona, Ariz., in his final days, when McCain was planning his funeral.
Biden’s son Beau died three years ago after he lost a battle with brain cancer – the same illness that took McCain’s life on Saturday..
In a moment that touched America, Biden consoled his friend’s daughter Meghan, on ABC’s ‘The View’ last fall after her father’s diagnosis, telling the emotional co-host of the program, ‘One of the things that gave Beau courage, my word, was John.’
‘I know if I picked up the phone tonight, and called John McCain, and said, ‘John, I’m at second in Vine in, in, in Oshkosh, and I need your help, come. He’d get on a plane and come,’ Biden said. ‘And I would for him, too.’
Preparations are being made in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington for Sen. John McCain to lie in state. His flag-draped casket will lie atop the Lincoln Catafalque, a bier built for the funeral of President Abraham Lincoln
Retired senator and former vice president Joe Biden will offer a tribute to John McCain in Phoenix today at a celebration of life service that will precede the late lawmaker’s transport to the nation’s capitol to lay in state
Biden and McCain served in Congress together for more than two decades, forging a friendship that withstood the test of time and brutal presidential race that pitted the senators from opposing parties against each other
In a moment that touched America, Biden consoled his friend’s daughter Meghan, on The View last fall after her father’s diagnosis, telling the emotional co-host of the program, ‘One of the things that gave Beau courage, my word, was John’
In addition to Biden, 24 sitting senators and four former senators, the current governor of Arizona and former Vice President Dan Quayle will honor John McCain at today’s celebration of life service.
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers will be on hand for a bipartisan tribute to their colleague.
The late senator’s office says that players and staff from Arizona’s major sports teams, the Cardinals, Diamondbacks and Coyotes, will also attend Thursday’s service.
McCain’s remains arrived at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday, what would have been his 82nd birthday.
Members of the Arizona National Guard carried McCain’s flag-draped coffin into the Arizona Capitol’s rotunda.
Cindy McCain, in her first public appearance since her husband’s death, accompanied his body as did the couple’s children.
It was an emotional day for the family that saw Cindy McCain kiss her husband’s coffin, Meghan McCain break down in tears, and sons Jack and Jimmy – both in full dress uniform – salute their father.
It started a long journey of remembrance for the McCain family.
GOODBYES BEGIN: Cindy McCain rests her cheek on husband John McCain’s coffin
Jimmy McCain and Jack McCain salute their father’s coffin as Cindy McCain places her hand on her heart
John McCain’s body was taken by honor guard into the Capitol
An honor guard will meet McCain’s hearse at the church. After a holding period, ceremonial pallbearers will line the vehicle as the Armed Forces Body Bearer Team removes McCain’s casket and carries it inside the church.
A reading of Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 by daughter Bridget McCain will follow, as will a performance of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace,’ a reading of 2 Timothy 4:6-8 by Andrew McCain and a recessional of Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way.’
Grant Woods, a former Attorney General of Arizona and Chief of Staff to McCain in the House of Representatives, will pay tribute to his fallen friend at the service.
President and CEO of the Raza Development Fund Tommy Espinoza and former Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, Jr. have also been asked to honor the senator.
Biden will deliver the final tribute of the service.
After it has concluded, McCain’s body will depart in a motorcade for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, where it will be transported to Washington.
On Friday, a ceremony will be held at the U.S. Capitol building, where he will again lie in state. On Saturday his funeral service will be held at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., and he will be buried Sunday on Hospital Hill at Naval Academy Cemetery.
Jack McCain, son of Sen. John McCain, touches his father’s casket
Cindy McCain is escorted by sons Jimmy, on left, and Jack, on right
McCain’s body will lie in state until Thursday
Cindy McCain on Wednesday was escorted by the couple’s sons Jack, in his white Navy dress uniform, and Jimmy, in his Army dress uniform.
Jack and Jimmy saluted their father’s coffin as it was taken from the hearse.
Meghan McCain was visibly sobbing during the morning’s events. She was escorted by her husband into the Capitol and held on to her brother Jimmy during the service.
The day was rich in military tradition for the Vietnam War Veteran and Naval Academy graduate.
Members of the public waved flags as McCain’s coffin was carried into the building by guard members in uniform. A police honor guard was also on hand to pay tribute.
Jimmy McCain is sergeant in the Arizona National Guard, having previously been an enlisted Marine. Jack is a Navy helicopter pilot.
Meghan McCain says goodbye to her father
Cindy McCain says goodbye to her husband of 38 years
A former U.S. Marine Jose Cordero Torres, 82, a Vietnam war veteran, leaves his commendation medal on the floor near McCain’s casket
Additionally, McCain’s adopted daughter Bridget McCain will give a reading as will Andy McCain, his son from his first marriage.
Larry Fitzgerald, a wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals – McCain’s beloved football team – will give remarks.
After the ceremony, the Arizona National Guard will act as honor guard during a dignified transfer of remains ceremony, during which McCain’s casket will be taken aboard a presidential air lift and flown to Washington D.C.
McCain will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol building on Friday – a place he spent over 30 years as a lawmaker and Naval aide – where lawmakers will hold a ceremony in his honor.
Vice President Mike Pence will be the administration’s representative at that event and will lay a wreath.
House Speaker Paul Ryan will lay a House wreath and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer will lay a Senate wreath.
Pence, Ryan, and McConnell will all give remarks on McCain and his service.
On Saturday, the McCain family will gather at the Capitol and escort McCain’s remains to the Vietnam War Memorial.
There, Cindy McCain and the family will lay a wreath in honor of McCain’s service in the Vietnam War, where he was held for five years as a prisoner.
Senator Jeff Flake pauses before the arrival of the funeral procession of Sen. John McCain on Wednesday
U.S. Naval sea cadets walk past the casket during a memorial service for John McCain
A former U.S. Marine salutes McCain’s casket
Members of the public line up to pay their respects to Sen. John McCain outside the Arizona Capitol
McCain’s funeral will take place at the National Cathedral with a parade of bold-faced names giving tributes and carrying his coffin.
His daughter Megan will give the first tribute.
She will be followed by former Sen. Joe Lieberman, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former President George W. Bush, and former President Barack Obama.
Readings will be done by two of McCain’s closest friends in the Senate: Sen. Lindsay Graham and former Sen. Kelly Ayotte.
The pallbearers will include actor Warren Beatty, Biden, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Defense Secretary William Cohen, former Sen. Russ Feingold, former Sen. Phil Gramm, former Sen. Gary Hart, Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, former Gov. Tom Ridge, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, FedEx chairman Fred Smith, and McCain’s longtime aide and co-author Mark Salter.
Musical selections will include The Navy Hymn, The Battle Hymn of the Republic and American the Beautiful sung by the Cathedral Choir and Navy Choir.
Additionally, as specifically requested by McCain, who had worked on his funeral arrangements in the year before his death, ‘Danny Boy’ will be sung by opera star Renee Fleming.
He will be buried on Sunday in a private ceremony at Hospital Hill at the U.S. Naval Academy surrounded by his family, friends and his fellow naval academy classmates from the Class of ’58.
Lindsey Graham and Jack McCain will give tributes.
John Sidney McCain III died on Saturday, August 25, at the age of 81, following a long battle with brain cancer.
He was born on August 29, 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone, where his father was stationed.
He was the son and grandson of four-star Navy admirals and followed his fore bearers to the Naval Academy.
He became a Navy pilot, was shot down during the Vietnam War, where he spent five years being tortured by North Vietnamese.
He moved to the Arizona at the age of 45 and served two terms representing the state in the U.S. House. He was elected to the Senate in 1987 and easily won reelection five times.
He ran for president twice but never made it to the highest office in the land. He lost the Republican nomination to George W. Bush in 2000 and the general election to Barack Obama in 2008. Both of those men will speak at his funeral.
He is the third person to lie in state in the Arizona rotunda in the last 40 years. The others were Arizona State Senator Marilyn Jarrett in 2006 and Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens – a Tucson resident – in 1980.