McCain buried at Naval Academy alongside a longtime friend
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Sen. John McCain’s final journey ended Sunday on a grassy hill at the U.S. Naval Academy within view of the Severn River and earshot of midshipmen present and future — and alongside a lifelong friend.
A horse-drawn caisson carrying the senator’s casket led a procession of mourners from the academy’s chapel to its cemetery following a private service. The senator’s widow, Cindy, and his children were among those who walked behind the caisson. Joining them were family and friends as well as members of McCain’s Class of 1958, military leaders and academy midshipmen.
About 4 p.m., a flyover of military aircraft honored the Navy pilot who was shot down over Vietnam and held more than five years as a prisoner of war.
After the American flag was removed from the casket, a grieving Cindy McCain pressed her check to its surface and McCain sons Jimmy and Jack shared a hug.
The burial was private as per the wishes of McCain, the Arizona Republican and 2008 presidential nominee who died Aug. 25 from brain cancer at age 81. Vehicles that had carried mourners began leaving the area between 4:30 and 5 p.m.
As the hearse carrying McCain passed through a gate and into the academy, there was loud applause from the several hundred people lining the street outside on the hot and muggy summer day. Many held their hands over their hearts and waved American flags. Some shouted, “God bless you.”
For his final resting place, McCain picked the historic site overlooking the Severn River, not Arlington National Cemetery, where his father and grandfather, both admirals, were buried.
Years ago, Chuck Larson, an admiral himself and an ally throughout McCain’s life, reserved four plots at the cemetery — two for McCain and himself and two for their wives, now widows. Larson died in 2014, and McCain wrote in a recent memoir that he wanted to be buried next to his friend, “near where it began.”