Sun Dec 15, 2013 14:20:36
A 21-gun salute and full honor guard escorted the coffin of Nelson Mandela as his state funeral got underway Sunday in the rolling hills of his rural boyhood home.
The funeral closes the final chapter on a towering public figure whose courage and moral fortitude turned him into a global symbol of freedom and hope.
And it ends 10 days of national mourning during which hundreds of thousands of South Africans turned out in torrential rain and searing sunshine to grieve, remember and celebrate the life of their first elected black president.
South Africa's anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela died at the age of 95 on December 5, 2013.
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