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Memorial Services Begin for Former US President Gerald Ford
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=158C87E:A6F02AD83191E160A6692383DC1DE9A59574F7DCC14957C0 Gerald Ford's body
will be flown to Washington Saturday to lie in state in US Capitol The
body of former U.S. President Gerald Ford will be flown to Washington
Saturday where it will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol.







Betty Ford (r) and family members watch as military guards carry
flag-draped casket bearing remains of her husband former US President
Gerald Ford for memorial service n Palm Desert, 29 Dec 2006The late
president's remains will arrive from Palm Desert, California, where it
is lying in repose at the church he and his wife Betty attended.
Thousands of people are expected to file past the flag-draped casket
to pay their final respects to Mr. Ford, the 38th U.S. president who
died Tuesday at the age of 93.

A state funeral will be held for Mr. Ford in the capitol's Rotunda
shortly after the casket's arrival Saturday. After a two-day public
viewing period, Mr. Ford's casket will be taken to Washington's
National Cathedral Tuesday for a memorial service. President Bush has
declared Tuesday as a national day of mourning.

Mr. Ford will be buried Wednesday on the grounds of his presidential
museum in his hometown in the northern state of Michigan.

Tributes from fellow politicians and friends have highlighted what
they called the late president's integrity and decency.

Mr. Ford was the only American to serve as both president and vice
president without being elected to either office. President Richard
Nixon appointed him vice president in 1973 when scandal forced
then-Vice President Spiro Agnew from office. Mr. Ford rose to the
nation's top office when Mr. Nixon resigned under threat of
impeachment in 1974.

Mr. Ford served two-and a-half years, during which time he is credited
with soothing the nation after the trauma of the Vietnam War and the
Watergate political scandal that forced Mr. Nixon from office.

His pardon of Mr. Nixon from any crimes during Watergate earned him
the wrath of Mr. Nixon's opponents and is thought by some historians
to have cost him the election in 1976. But the same historians also
point out that by pardoning the disgraced leader, Mr. Ford helped the
country recover more quickly.

On Tuesday, all non-essential federal offices will be closed, as will
the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq stock market.

Some information for this report was provided by AP .


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