PHOENIX (AP) — The Latest on services for Sen. John McCain (all times local):
9:50 a.m.
The hearse carrying Sen. John McCain’s casket has arrived at a Phoenix church for a memorial service.
The motorcade came Thursday from the Arizona Capitol where he laid in state. It passed saluting firefighters and dozens of well-wishers waving campaign-style McCain signs and American flags.
It passed a school where kids peered through the fence to catch a glimpse.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is among speakers at the church service, which will be attended by dozens of senators, other politicians and some professional athletes.
After it ends, McCain’s body will be taken to the airport and flown to Washington, D.C. There will be a viewing at the U.S. Capitol before a memorial service featuring former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and burial at the U.S. Naval Academy.
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9:30 a.m.
Several firefighters are standing on top of a firetruck on an overpass above a Phoenix freeway saluting a motorcade with a hearse carrying Sen. John McCain’s casket.
Dozens of people, including schoolchildren of all ages, are holding McCain signs and American flags as they waited for the motorcade to arrive Thursday at a church for the longtime senator’s memorial service.
McCain’s staff says the campaign-style signs are replicas of his 2008 presidential campaign.
Raymond Celaya of Phoenix and others around him held the signs as they waited along a roadside. Celaya said he was most impressed with McCain’s willingness to fight for his beliefs.
He says McCain “represented all of Arizona, not just Latinos like me.”
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9:20 a.m.
A hearse carrying Sen. John McCain’s casket is driving in a motorcade along a Phoenix highway on its way to the memorial service for the longtime Republican senator and two-time presidential candidate.
Michael Fellars stood on a roadway outside of North Phoenix Baptist Church on Thursday waiting to see the funeral procession. Firetrucks were positioned along the route.
Fellars was the fourth person in line Wednesday to attend the public viewing honoring McCain at the Arizona Capitol.
As a veteran of the Marine Corps, Fellars said he was most impressed with McCain’s advocacy on behalf of people who serve in the military.
He says McCain “was about the only politician that I have ever known who cared for the people in his country, and he tried his level best to make it a better place in which to live.”
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9:10 a.m.
A hearse carrying Sen. John McCain’s casket has left the Arizona State Capitol and is taking the body of the longtime lawmaker, two-time presidential candidate and former POW to a Phoenix church for a public memorial service.
People carrying campaign style placards with the word “McCain” and holding U.S. flags lined part of the part of the 8-mile (13-kilometer) route the motorcade was taking Thursday to the North Phoenix Baptist Church.
The hearse is accompanied by Arizona Highway Patrol motorcycle troopers and vehicles with family members.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is among speakers for the church service.
After it ends, McCain’s body will be taken to Sky Harbor International Airport and flown to Washington D.C., where it will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol building before a funeral service featuring former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
McCain died Saturday of brain cancer at age 81.
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9:00 a.m.
Mourners have entered the North Phoenix Baptist church ahead of the arrival of Sen. John McCain’s casket for a memorial service.
The church has is a spacious, half-circle indoor amphitheater with purple fabric seats and benches that holds 3,500. Red and blue lights illuminated two rows of chairs on the stage, which was lined by lilies and adorned with greenery and white rose floral displays.
Mourners were given programs with an image of a sunset.
Former Vice President Joe Biden will speak at the service, expected to be attended by 24 current U.S. Senators and four former senators and many Arizona politicians.
People holding U.S. flags and campaign style placards with the word “McCain” lined part of the 8-mile (13-kilometer) route that the motorcade with McCain’s casket will take from the Arizona State Capitol to the church.
He died last Saturday of brain cancer and was 81.
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8:10 a.m.
People are starting to line the route that a motorcade will take to bring John McCain’s coffin from the Arizona State Capitol to a church for his memorial service.
Part of the 8-mile (13-kilometer) route was lined with U.S. flags and campaign-style placards that simply read “McCain.”
A man with a white beard stood on one corner holding a sign saying “Senator John McCain: Because character counts.”
Someone left a stuffed animal clinging to a nearby lamppost holding a sign reading “we will miss you.”
McCain will be commemorated at Thursday at North Phoenix Baptist Church by former Vice President Joe Biden and other speakers. He died last Saturday of brain cancer at age 81.
His coffin will then depart for the airport and be flown to Washington, DC, where it will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol building before a funeral service featuring former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
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7:30 a.m.
Several of Sen. John McCain’s adult children thanked people who visited the Arizona State Capitol to pay respects to their father.
Sons Doug, Jack and Jimmy, daughter Sidney and daughter-in-law Renee shook hands Wednesday with some of the thousands of people who viewed McCain’s flag-draped casket in the Capitol’s rotunda
The afternoon and evening casket viewing followed a private service Wednesday morning.
A public memorial service will be held Thursday at North Phoenix Baptist Church before McCain’s body is taken by motorcade to an Arizona Air National Guard base at Sky Harbor International Airport to be flown to Washington.
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12 a.m.
The celebration of Sen. John McCain as a former prisoner of war and maverick politician enters a second day with a church service and a military salute before his casket departs his adopted state of Arizona for Washington.
A motorcade with McCain’s casket leaves Thursday morning from the Arizona Capitol, where McCain has been lying in state so thousands of people could say goodbye.
Family and friends gathered there Wednesday for a private service, where Cindy McCain pressed her face against her husband’s coffin.
Following a service at North Phoenix Baptist Church, McCain’s casket will go to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for a salute from the Arizona Air and Army National Guard.
Friday’s visitation at the U.S. Capitol will be followed by a service Saturday at Washington National Cathedral.
