Washington ? In a funeral ceremony filled with pageantry and patriotic ritual, President Reagan’s body took a hallowed spot in the nation’s capital Wednesday as thousands of mourners lined up to say goodbye to the 40th president.

“Knowing that this moment would come has not made it any easier,” Vice President Dick Cheney said after Reagan’s casket took its place in the Capitol Rotunda on the same wooden platform that held Abraham Lincoln’s body. “Fellow Americans, here lies a graceful and gallant man.”

“It is their being here that I think would mean more to him than any words we say,” House Speaker Dennis Hastert said in his eulogy at Wednesday night’s Rotunda service, attended by Reagan’s family, top government officials and other dignitaries.

After the somber Rotunda service, Nancy Reagan, escorted by Cheney, ran her hand over the flag that encased her husband’s casket. Veterans from Reagan’s two terms in the White House then took their turns saying goodbye.

President Bush, who was attending an international summit in Georgia on Wednesday, will deliver a eulogy at another funeral service Friday at the Washington National Cathedral. Reagan will be buried later that day at sunset at his presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif., on a site overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Outside, Americans and foreign visitors from all walks of life waited patiently in steaming heat and humidity for the chance to view Reagan’s flag-draped coffin casket, which will be on display in the Capitol until early Friday morning.

As many as 200,000 mourners are expected to pay their respects before the round-the-clock vigil ends.

The two-term president died at age 93 at his California home on Saturday after a 10-year struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Reagan, an actor-turned-politician who began planning his funeral in 1981, was returned to Washington with patriotic flourishes that were a hallmark of his presidency. His body arrived at Andrews Air Force Base from California late in the day on a blue-and-white Boeing 747 that normally serves as Air Force One.

His wife, Nancy, and his three surviving children, Ron Reagan, Michael Reagan and Patti Davis, also were on board. Another child, Maureen Reagan, died of skin cancer in 2001.

Nancy Reagan, second from right, watches the casket of her late husband, former President Ronald Reagan, placed on a military caisson as it makes its way to the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The formal beginning of the three-day state funeral for the nation's 40th president was Wednesday.

Nancy Reagan, wearing a simple black dress and oversized glasses, swallowed hard but maintained her composure as the casket was loaded into a hearse at the air base to the sounds of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”

As the motorcade sped through a black neighborhood on its route from the Maryland suburbs to Washington, residents lined the highway and waved.

On Constitution Avenue, within view of the Washington Monument and opposite the White House that Reagan occupied from 1981 to 1989, the flag-draped coffin was loaded onto a horse-drawn caisson built during World War I to hold a cannon.

In a somber ritual that left some spectators in tears, a riderless horse followed behind the funeral wagon as the procession made its way to the Capitol along the center stripe of Constitution Avenue. The horse carried an empty saddle with a pair of Reagan’s boots stuck backwards in the stirrups to symbolize the commander in chief’s parting look at the troops he once led. A saber dangled from the saddle.

“God bless you, Nancy!” one man shouted to the grieving widow, who acknowledged the crowd’s applause with a wave and a mouthed “Thank you.”

On streets normally clogged with rush-hour traffic, the quiet clop of the horses’ hoofs, the tread of marchers’ feet and patriotic music from military bands replaced the noise of engines, horns and sirens. Mourners, standing more than 20 deep in some areas, fell silent as the casket neared. Soldiers lining the route saluted their former commander in chief.

Capitol police distributed more than 150,000 bottles of water to the sweat-drenched crowd, and more than 100 people were treated for heat-related problems.

As the procession neared the Capitol, 21 fighter jets flying in waves seemed to appear out of thin air and roared across the casket’s route, about 1,000 feet overhead. A single F-15E fighter broke from its spot on the wing and soared skyward in the “missing man” maneuver, signifying the loss of a comrade in arms.

It was a loss shared by many in the crowd that lined the funeral route.

“He had been sick for a long time, but I was struck more than I ever thought I would be by the finality of it. He’s gone,” said D.J. Bettencort, of Salem, Mass., who arrived in Washington before dawn to get a front-row seat on the procession route.

Bettencort, 20, a freshman at the University of Massachusetts, has no personal memory of the Reagan years, but said, “I’m proud to say that I was a Reagan baby.”

Ron and Karon Tanner, seated nearby on portable chairs, said they voted for Reagan in both of his presidential campaigns and felt obligated to turn out for his funeral.

“We would have voted a third time if he would’ve run. And a fourth,” Ron Tanner said. “This is the least we can do. He did a lot for us. He deserves our respect.”

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