Honoring Gerald R. Ford

UPDATE: 01/02/07 National Cathedral Service - LIVE COVERAGE

UPDATE: 12/31/06 Funeral of President Gerald R. Ford (VIDEO) - Pres. Ford Arrives in Andrews AFB, MD, Fmr. Pres. Ford Motorcade at WWII Memorial, Fmr. Pres. Ford Arrives at Capitol, East Front, U.S. Capitol Funeral Service for Fmr. Pres. Ford, Fmr. Pres. Gerald Ford Funeral Arrival Ceremony in Palm Desert, CA.

Nearly 4,000 Troops to Take Part In Funeral

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2006 – Almost 4,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guard members are gearing up to support the national farewell to former President Gerald R. Ford that will span a seven-day period with events in California, Maryland, the nation’s capital and Michigan.

“This is DoD’s way of showing respect and honor to a former commander in chief and president, so it’s very important to us,” said Army Col. Jim Yonts, public affairs officer for the Military District of Washington. FULL Story

Military Tradition To Be Evident in Funeral

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2006 – Military tradition will be evident throughout the events associated with the Dec. 26 death of former President Gerald R. Ford, as the services join the nation in bidding farewell to their former commander in chief.

Ford’s three-stage state funeral will begin tomorrow with the former president’s remains lying in repose at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, Calif. He will then be honored in the nation’s capital, and finally in his home state of Michigan, where he will be buried. FULL Story

Rumsfeld Remembers Ford As Patriot Who Restored Confidence

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27, 2006 – Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld remembered the late President Gerald R. Ford as a patriot who led the United States through difficult days and helped restore confidence in its government. “President Ford was a man of great decency and towering integrity,” Rumsfeld said in a written statement released today. FULL Story

Ford Helped U.S. Recover from Watergate

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27, 2006 – Americans will remember former President Gerald R. Ford as a man with the courage to heal a nation. Ford, who died at his California home last night at age 93, assumed the presidency at a grim time in American history. FULL Story

Related Links

• Funeral Sequence of Events
• Presidential Library and Museum
• White House Biography

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National Day of Mourning for Gerald R. Ford

Statements on Death of President Gerald R. Ford (VIDEO) UPDATE: 12/28/06 CRAWFORD, Texas - President George W. Bush declares that, Tuesday 01/02/07 will be the National day of mourning for President Gerald R. Ford, Federal offices will be closed on that day. For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary December 28, 2006.

_____________

As a further mark of respect to the memory of Gerald R. Ford, the thirty-eighth President of the United States, NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, in honor and tribute to the memory of Gerald R. Ford, and as an expression of public sorrow, do appoint Tuesday, January 2, 2007, as a National Day of Mourning throughout the United States. I call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President Ford. I invite the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty eighth day of December in the year of our Lord two thousand six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.

GEORGE W. BUSH

# # # For Immediate Release, Office of the Press Secretary, December 28, 2006
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