Members of the Senate and House paid tribute to one of their own Thursday, war-hero-turned-senator Daniel Inouye whose remains laid in state in the rotunda of the US Capitol.
The ceremony, which has been accorded to just 31 other individuals since the honor began in 1852, marked a somber, formal sendoff for the Hawaii Democrat who was the longest-serving senator at the time of his death Monday at age 88.
Inouye was third in line for the presidency, after the vice president and speaker of the House, and served 50 years in the Senate, longer than anyone except Robert Byrd who died in 2010 after 51 years in the chamber.
Vice President Joe Biden stood shoulder to shoulder with Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as an honor guard slowly entered the rotunda bearing Inouye’s flag-draped casket.
The guards placed the casket on what is known as a catafalque, the same one first constructed for president Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and which has been used in every such rotunda ceremony since.
“He was in every sense the quintessential American,” Biden told hundreds of Inouye’s relatives and friends, including many US senators and congressmen.
Biden served for more than three decades in the Senate with Inouye, and said he never saw his friend bitter, despite the discrimination he had suffered growing up as an Asian-American, or after he lost his right arm during an assault to take out an enemy position in Italy during World War II.
Inouye was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery.
“Danny had the most fulsome embrace of life with one arm than any man or woman could have with two,” Biden said.
“Danny made me proud to be a senator.”
Reid said Inouye will leave behind a legacy of “public leadership and private kindness that will not be forgotten as long as these walls stand.”
“Dan Inouye was an institution, and deserves to spend at least another day in this beautiful building to which he dedicated his life.”
Dozens of lawmakers and administration officials including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta paid tribute, quietly filing past Inouye’s casket. Senator Jim Webb, a former US Navy officer, stopped at the head of the casket and presented a crisp salute.
A service is set for Friday in Washington National Cathedral. Inouye’s remains will then be flown to his home state of Hawaii for burial on Sunday.
Full honors from colleagues for late US Senator Inouye
