A worker power-washes the plaza on the East Front of the US Capitol in Washington in preparation for former President George H.W. Bush lying in state. Photo / AP
A worker power-washes the plaza on the East Front of the US Capitol in Washington in preparation for former President George H.W. Bush lying in state. Photo / AP
A US government plane has arrived in Texas to transport the body of former President George H.W. Bush to Washington for a state funeral.
Bush spokesman Jim McGrath tweeted a photo of the presidential plane on a tarmac.
He wrote, "Air Force One has arrived in Houston for what will technically be called 'Special Air Mission 41' tomorrow and Wednesday."
He added: "A beautiful day In Texas — 'ceiling and visibility unlimited,' Mr. President."
The 41st president died on Saturday NZT at his Houston home at age 94.
He will be honoured during several private and public events in Houston and Washington before he is buried in Texas next to his wife, Barbara, and their young daughter Robin, who died in 1953.
Bush's body will be transported by a motorcade Monday morning from a Houston funeral home to Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, a Texas Air National Guard base. The casket will be loaded onto a plane during a departure ceremony and flown to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Relatives accompanying the casket will include his sons, former President George W. Bush and Neil Bush, with members of their immediate families. The rest of the Bush family is expected to be at Joint Base Andrews when the body arrives.
STATE FUNERAL IN WASHINGTON
In Washington, Bush will lie in state in the rotunda of the US Capitol tomorrow and Wednesday. His casket will be transported by motorcade on Thursday to the National Cathedral, where a state funeral will be held at 5am NZT.
US President Donald Trump has indicated that he and first lady Melania Trump will attend the state funeral. Trump has said he plans to designate Thursday as a national day of mourning.
RETURN TO HOUSTON
Following the service at the National Cathedral, Bush will be flown to Houston with a scheduled arrival of around 11.30am NZT. His body will be transported by motorcade to St Martin's Episcopal Church, where he and his wife regularly worshipped.
A public viewing of Bush's casket will be held at the church from 1.45pm.
On Friday, a private funeral service with about 1200 invited guests will be held at the church. After the hour-long service, a motorcade will transport Bush's casket to a train station north of Houston, near the international airport named after Bush.
A ceremony will be held at the train station as Bush's casket is loaded onto a Union Pacific train. The train will take about 2½ hours to travel roughly 113km to the city of College Station, home to Bush's presidential library at Texas A&M University. The locomotive has been painted the colors of the Air Force One plane used during his presidency and bears the number "4141" in honour of the 41st president.
Former US President George H.W. Bush looks out of the cab of Union Pacific locomotive 4141 at its 2005 unveiling in College Station, Texas. Photo / Union Pacific
The train is scheduled to arrive in College Station on Friday around 10:45am NZT.
Bush's casket will then be transported by motorcade to the presidential library, where he will be buried at the gated family plot near his wife and their daughter Robin, who died of leukemia at age 3.
Barbara Bush died on April 17 at their Houston home. The couple was married for 73 years, longer than any other US presidential couple.
Ceremonies at the presidential library will include a missing man formation flyover. The casket will then be rolled along a path through woods, over a bridge and over a creek for burial during a private graveside service with Bush's family.
