Ford’s Body Arrives at National Cathedral

The body of former U.S. President Gerald R. Ford Tuesday arrived at the National Cathedral where thousands of mourners awaited to pay tribute.

Ford, who died last week in California, lay in state in Washington for two days and his casket was visited by thousands, including U.S. President George Bush and his wife, Laura, former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, and former President Bill Clinton, and his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

A motorcade brought the casket to the cathedral for a memorial service, during which the bell was to toll 38 times, to mark him being the 38th president. Among scheduled speakers at the service are both Bushes who followed Ford as president and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

After the service, Ford’s body is to be flown to his childhood home town of Grand Rapids, Mich., for burial in a hillside tomb at his presidential museum as a 21-aircraft flyover in missing-man formation jets up the Grand River.