Thousands Brave Arizona Heat to Pay Their Respects to John McCain

Thousands of people paid their respects to U.S. Sen. John McCain on Wednesday, standing for hours in the broiling Arizona sun before filing past the flag-draped casket that his tearful wife, Cindy, lovingly pressed her face against after a ceremony for the former North Vietnam prisoner of war who represented Arizona for decades.Former military members in shorts and T-shirts stopped and saluted the closed casket flanked by National Guard members at the Arizona Capitol. Families with small children came by, and several people placed their hand over their heart or bowed, including Vietnamese-born residents who traveled from Southern California.

The private service held earlier marked the first appearance of McCain’s family since the Republican senator died Saturday of brain cancer. It also began two days of official mourning in Arizona before his body is taken to Washington for a viewing at the U.S. Capitol, followed by burial at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

At the emotional private ceremony in Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey remembered McCain as an internationally known figure and “Arizona’s favorite adopted son” on what would have been his 82nd birthday. He was born in the Panama Canal Zone while his father, who went on to become an admiral, served in the military.

“Imagining an Arizona without John McCain is like picturing Arizona without the Grand Canyon,” Ducey said.