George H.W. Bush makes his last journey to Washington - Washingtonpost

The body of former president George H.W. Bush arrived at the U.S. Capitol Monday afternoon to begin several days of Washington tributes and all the solemn ceremony befitting a nation's fallen leader.

The president’s cortège, and a flight of gleaming black limousines, arrived on a fading autumn day at the traditional site of public leave taking after a journey from Houston, where Bush died Friday at the age of 94.

As the sky grew pink to the East, and a band played hymns, an eight-man military team of bearers carried the casket one step at a time up the long flight at the east front of the Capitol.

The crash of an artillery salute echoed over the grounds.

The casket was placed on the same pine board catafalque, covered in black fabric, that held the coffin of Abraham Lincoln after he was assassinated in 1865.

And 180 feet above, in the “eye” of the Rotunda, was the 1851 fresco depicting the exaltation of the nation’s first president, George Washington.

Scores of dignitaries and legislators were gathered. Among them was Vice President Pence.

“President Bush was a great leader, who made a great difference in the life of this nation,” he said. “But he was also just a good man, who was devoted to his wife, his family, and his friends.”

Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called Bush a hero, and “a steady hand.”

Amid the speeches and the pomp, Bush’s son, former President George W. Bush sat, looking haggard with grief.

The late president’s casket and his family had arrived at Joint Base Andrews earlier on a presidential jumbo jet that landed at the base in suburban Maryland about 3:20 p.m.

The plane arrived under a blue sky and rolled down an empty runway. When it came to a stop, a blue truck bearing the presidential seal pulled up to the plane to remove the casket from the aircraft.

As an Air Force band played the hymn “America,” and a blue Air Force flag flew at half-mast, the president’s casket was placed in a black hearse for the journey to the Capitol.

The hearse left for the Capitol at 4 p.m. 

The public viewing in the Rotunda will continue Tuesday and will end at 7 a.m. Wednesday.- More
[George H.W. Bush, 41st president of the United States, dies at 94]
[How to pay your respects to Bush at the U.S. Capitol]

George H.W. Bush makes his last journey to Washington