Posted on 06/09/2004 1:36:48 PM PDT by Howlin
Arrival at Andrews Air Force Base scheduled for 5 P.M. EDT.
Beginning of procession: 16th and Constitution at 6:00 P.M.
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The procession begins at 16 th Street and Constitution Avenue with the ceremonial transfer of remains of former President Ronald Reagan from a hearse to a horse-drawn caisson for the processional to the Capitol. The casket transfer will take place at 6 p.m. and caisson continues east with formal military escort.
The public will be able to pay final respects while the remains lie in state in the Capitol rotunda from 7:00 p.m. through Friday, June 11, 2004 at 9:30 a.m.
Taxman Bravo Zulu for your effort to pay your respects to President Reagan and for your most moving post.
He, and most of the Poles and Eastern Europeans know in a way most of us can never fully understand what the legacy of President Ronald Reagan really means.
Last memorable point that sticks in my head, that I should have included in the original Post..............It was WAY after dark 2 nights ago when I got in. The final part of the line (right after going through an airport-like metal detector in a small make-shift building on the side of the Capitol) takes you onto the front balcony of the Capitol facing West with all of Washington laid beneath you. The night was hot and muggy and you finally walk up the steps into the Rotunda in the very middle of the Capitol's structure. What struck me was the change from 'hot and muggy' to 'cold and damp': The air conditioning straining to keep up with the atmosphere and not quite succeeding.
The cold and dampness was like a tomb! There was a crypt-like feel to the surreal vision of these servicemen standing stock-still in their immaculate uniforms, guarding the body. No movement, no apparent breathing, eyes straight forward with no blinking (.....and the placement of the lighting gave an even more other-worldly feel to the huge room). They seemed like unreal statues from a wax museum, except more than real in their starkness, with the imposing vault of the dome hundreds of feet above your head and no sound except the quiet echo of 'treading of feet' on the marble floor. On the ceiling, hundreds of feet above your head, is the fresco of Washington being deified: THE APOTHEOSIS OF WASHINGTON. Very fitting!
All I can say is 'Stunning'.
It hurts, doesn't it? As late as 11 pm last night I was trying to convince my girls that we should head out go to DC so we could visit the rotunda before daybreak. I couldn't convince them to go so we stayed home and watched it on TV instead. But I felt a sense of disloyalty because I didn't make arrangements to go sooner.
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folks-Do not miss the photos posted on the link rabidralph has above. These photos of the march to the rotunda took my breath away. Wish there were more. Rabidralph-YOU DONE GOOD! :^) Thanks for posting them....just excellent shots.
Thanks for pictures, they are terrific.
Ralph you take good photos, especially considering the crowd.
You're welcome. I was glad I could be there.
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