John Glenn portrait originally published in 1964. Credit: Courtesy of NASA
Ohio Gov. John Kasich ordered all U.S. and state flags at public buildings and grounds throughout Ohio be flown at half-staff Thursday, from sunrise to sundown, in honor of former U.S. senator and astronaut John Glenn.
Glenn is set to be interred Thursday morning at Arlington National Cemetery.
The Wednesday proclamation echoed a White House order made the same day that U.S. flags be flown at half-mast upon all domestic public buildings and grounds, as well as military posts and naval stations, embassies and other U.S. facilities abroad.
Glenn died on Dec. 8 at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center at the age of 95. He was the first American to orbit the Earth, served four consecutive terms as a U.S. senator and was a decorated World War II and Korean War pilot.
Glenn grew up in New Concord, Ohio, and donated his records to OSU. He is the namesake of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. It was founded in 1998, as the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy.
“John Glenn is, and always will be, Ohio’s ultimate hometown hero, and his passing today is an occasion for all of us to grieve,” Kasich said in a Dec. 8 release.
Thousands of mourners visited the Ohio Statehouse on Dec. 16 to view Glenn’s casket as it lay in state. The following day, a procession carried his casket down North High Street to a memorial celebration at OSU.
President Barack Obama made a similar proclamation the day after Glenn’s death that U.S. flags upon public buildings and grounds, as well as at U.S. facilities abroad, be flown at half-staff until sunset of Glenn’s interment.
The funeral service is expected to be live streamed on the Defense Video Imagery Distribution System’s website on Thursday, from 9:20 to 11 a.m.
