Final farewell to John McCain The U.S. senator was buried Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Week of events honoring the late senator brought to a close
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, are buried.
The late Sen. John McCain was buried Sunday in a private ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., bringing to a close five days of events honoring the late Arizona Republican.
McCain, who died Aug. 25 of brain cancer at age 81, was the son and grandson of four-star admirals and a 1958 graduate of the Naval Academy.
He endured more than five years of torture and imprisonment as a POW in Vietnam.
The service was attended by McCain’s family, close friends, former classmates and military leaders. Among the speakers were longtime friend Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., retired Army general and former CIA director David Petraeus, and the senator’s son Jack McCain.
After the ceremony, McCain was laid to rest next to his Naval Academy classmate and friend Adm. Charles Larson.
McCain’s family, including his 106-year-old mother, Roberta, had planned to escort his remains to Annapolis. As the hearse carrying McCain passed through a gate and into the academy, there was a 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 and applauded loudly; some shouted “God bless you.”
Some in the crowd held signs that said, “Senator John McCain Thanks For Serving! Godspeed” and “Rest In Peace Maverick.”
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, are buried.
On Saturday, official Washington — with the notable exception of President Donald Trump — gathered at Washington National Cathedral for a memorial service that featured tributes by such speakers as former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
McCain’s legacy of bipartisanship and the deterioration of civility under Trump were themes mentioned by many of those who eulogized him, with some of the sharpest words aimed at the president coming from the senator’s daughter, Meghan McCain.
In an appearance Sunday morning on CNN’s “State of the Union,” former Sen. Joseph Lieberman, IConn., one of McCain’s closest friends in the Senate, said the burial service is “going to be hard, because it’s the last farewell.”
“Religiously, I feel their body is there, but their soul is on to the next world,” said Lieberman, who also eulogized McCain on Saturday. “But I’m left with incredible memories. I say goodbye, but I’ll than k God I knew a man like John McCain.”
Graham also recounted his memories of McCain during an appearance on the show. He told host Dana Bash that the main takeaway from the past week and from McCain’s life is service to a cause greater than oneself.
“If you’re thinking of public service, pick a cause worthy of a good fight, and, above all else, when you make a mistake, admit it,” Graham said.
Both lawmakers also weighed in on Meghan McCain’s tribute to her father at Saturday’s memorial service, during which she said her father’s America “has no need to be made great again because America was always great.”
The remark was widely interpreted as a swipe at Trump, whose 2016 campaign slogan was “Make America Great Again.”
“She did it the way her dad would have wanted her to do it,” Lieberman said of the speech.
Graham told Bash that he was proud of Meghan McCain and said she was “her father’s daughter.”
“If you say something bad about her dad, you will know it, whether you are the janitor or the president of the United States,” Graham said. “She is grieving for the father she adored, and I think most Americans understand that.”