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Body of Late Congressman, Civil Rights Icon John Lewis Returns to Washington

VOA News

   The late U.S. congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis returned to
   Washington on Monday, taking a final journey past several civil rights
   landmarks before his casket was taken to the Capitol, where it will lie
   in state for officials and the public to pay their last respects.

   Lewis died last week at the age of 80 after a yearlong battle with
   advanced-stage pancreatic cancer.

   His casket is being brought to the building where he served the people
   of his Georgia district for 33 years.

   After flying into Joint Base Andrews in Maryland outside Washington,
   Lewis'casket was loaded into a hearse and taken into the city via
   motorcade led by motorcycle police.

   The motorcade took a circuitous route through the city, with a slow
   pass by the Lincoln Memorial where, in 1963, Lewis had been the
   youngest speaker during the Martin Luther King-led March on Washington.
   The motorcade then drove by the memorial honoring King, on the tidal
   basin just off the National Mall.

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