The state funeral of late former President George H. W. Bush will commence on Dec. 3 and span four days with 11 ceremonies and 3 services in 2 states and DC.<\/b>
\nThe state funeral of late former President George H. W. Bush will commence on Dec. 3 and span four days with 11 ceremonies and three services in two states and the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense announced on Dec. 1, a day after Bush\u2019s passing at age 94.
\u201cWe, the men and women of the Department of Defense, are honored and proud to support the Bush family and will do so with the utmost respect,\u201d said Maj. Gen. Michael Howard in a Dec. 1 release. Howard heads the Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region, the nearly 4,000-strong military task force that is overseeing the funeral.
President Donald Trump announced he\u2019ll send a presidential Air Force One jetliner to take Bush\u2019s remains from Houston to Washington on Dec. 3. A departure ceremony will be held at the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base near Houston at 10:30 a.m. local time.
The plane will land at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, where an arrival ceremony will be held at 3:30 p.m. local time. The remains will then be moved to the U. S. Capitol, where an arrival ceremony is scheduled to start at 4:45 p.m. with members of the House and Senate in attendance followed by a short service.
Bush\u2019s remains will then lie in state in the Rotunda of the U. S. Capitol at 7:30 p.m. until Dec. 5, at 8:45 a.m. with a guard of honor in attendance. Details of public access are yet to be announced.
Trump declared Dec. 5,2018, as a National Day of Mourning and called on Americans \u201cto assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President George H. W. Bush.\u201d
\u201cI invite the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance,\u201d he said in a Dec. 1 proclamation .
He also ordered flags at half-staff for 30 days at the White House and other official sites, including public buildings and military posts in Bush\u2019s honor and \u201cand as an expression of public sorrow.\u201d
On Dec. 5 at 10:00 a.m., a departure ceremony will begin upon which Bush\u2019s remains will be transported to the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Washington where a funeral service will be held for invited guests at 11:00 a.m.
Upon departure ceremony at 12:30 p.m., the remains will be moved to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, and flown back to Ellington Field. Transported, then, to St. Martin\u2019s Episcopal Church in Houston, Bush\u2019s remains will lie in repose on Dec. 5, at 6:45 p.m. local time until Dec. 6, at 6:00 a.m. with a guard of honor in attendance.
A funeral mass will be held at the church at 10 a.m. on Dec. 6 for invited guests.
At 11:15 a.m., upon a departure ceremony, the remains will be transported by motorcade to Union Pacific Railroad Westfield Auto Facility in Spring, Texas. Bush\u2019s remains will then be taken by funeral train car to College Station, Texas.
The locomotive No. 4141 that will pull the train was specially painted to resemble Air Force One in 2005 in Bush\u2019s honor, Union Pacific stated in materials on its website.
The train will take about two and a half hours to make the roughly 70-mile trip through Hufsmith, Pinehurst, Magnolia, Todd Mission, Stoneham, Navasota, Millican, and Wellborn.
The train is scheduled to depart after a ceremony at 12:30 p.m. and arrive for a ceremony at the Texas A&M University scheduled at 3:45 p.m. The university is the site of George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, where his remains will be laid to rest at 4:15 p.m.
Bush served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States from 1981 to 1989 under President Ronald Reagan. He then succeeded Reagan for a single term. He spent time with his large family thereafter while his public agenda included a number of philanthropic activities.
Bush is one of the few who had a Navy ship named after them while they were still alive. USS George H. W. Bush, the last of 10 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, commissioned in 2009 and Bush himself attended its naming ceremony in 2002.
During his later years, Bush suffered from a kind of Parkinson\u2019s disease that didn\u2019t allow him to walk and made it hard for him to speak.
He passed away while surrounded by his family and others.
He will be buried next to his wife, Barbara, who passed in April, and his daughter, Pauline Robinson, who died in 1953 at age 3.
In lieu of flowers, those wishing to honor the late president may make donations to the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.<\/p>\n