Washington National Cathedral will host the funeral of former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday

photo by Master of All Metal

From the Washington National Cathedral:

“The funeral of former Secretary of State Colin Powell will be held at Washington National Cathedral on Friday, November 5, 2021 at 12 noon ET. Secretary Powell, who served for decades in and out of uniform starting with his service in the Vietnam War, was also national security advisor from 1987 to 1989 and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993. Numerous military and Congressional leaders are expected to be in attendance.

Secretary Powell died of complications from COVID-19 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on October 18, 2021.

“Beyond his military and diplomatic success, Secretary Powell became a universally respected north star on the nation’s moral compass,” said The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral. “We pray that America will find the courage and capacity to be the nation that Secretary Powell believed us to be.”

Born in 1937, Secretary Powell was raised by immigrant parents and grew up in the South Bronx. He attended City College of New York, where he joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, and was commissioned as second lieutenant before serving in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971. He later rose to the rank of four-star general and went on to serve as national security advisor and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, respectively. He served as the first Black secretary of state in the second Bush administration, from 2001 to 2005.”