RICHARD NIXON: 1913-1994 : Burst of Sun Heralds Body’s Arrival : Ceremony: The rain eases long enough for the somber military rites to take place at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

As if on cue, the brooding skies that hovered over El Toro Marine Corps Air Station Tuesday suddenly burst with sunshine, as the plane carrying Richard Nixon to his final homecoming taxied to a stop.

Storm clouds had threatened to dampen an already somber military ceremony planned for the arrival of the former President’s body. But the rain that fell on much of Southern California Tuesday eased long enough so the brief ceremony, which is steeped in military tradition, could proceed.

The flag-draped casket was bathed in sunlight as it was taken from the blue and white Boeing 707 with the tail number 27000, the same plane that brought Nixon to Orange County after his resignation in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal. The plane landed at the Marine base about 12:30 p.m., after a flight from Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y.

But unlike 1974, when several thousand civilians were allowed on the base to welcome Nixon, the public was kept away from El Toro Tuesday. Only a few dozen Marine dependents who live on base witnessed the ceremony while standing in a fenced-off area, far removed from reporters.

Nixon’s daughters, Julie Eisenhower and Tricia Cox, their husbands and four Nixon grandchildren, exited the front of the plane, after the casket was removed from the rear. The family was escorted by Army Maj. Gen. Fred A. Gorden as they stood and watched eight military pallbearers, representing the five branches of the Armed Forces, carry the casket.

Family members showed no outward emotion as a Marine band signaled “Ruffles and Flourishes,” followed by “Hail to the Chief,” and an artillery battery from Camp Pendleton fired a 21-gun salute to honor the dead President.

Although the ceremony was relatively brief, the young servicemen and women who made up the welcoming troops endured long moments at attention before and after the ceremony. Everyone, including the Marines in the base ground crew, was in a crisp dress uniform.

After the 21-gun salute, the band played “America the Beautiful,” and the casket was slowly carried between an honor cordon of servicemen to a waiting hearse. A national color team of three servicemen, with the traditional Army soldier in the middle carrying the U.S. flag, marched in front of the casket.

Once the casket was in the black hearse, Nixon’s family entered a waiting limousine, and the vehicles joined a short motorcade escorted by the California Highway Patrol to make the 37-minute trip to the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda.

Thousands stood along the 20-mile route to watch Nixon’s body and his relatives pass, flashing the two-finger “V” for victory sign from overpasses and on-ramps as the five-car motorcade whizzed by.

“Farewell, Our Native Son” read a homemade banner in front of Linda Vista Elementary School, on the banks of Imperial Highway, a stretch of which bears the name of the 37th President.

Hundreds more hovered near his birthplace and final resting spot, waving American flags and homemade tributes, poised with cameras to catch the moment.

Then, at the last minute, it rained on Nixon’s parade.

Thunder, lightning and a massive downpour welcomed the curtained hearse, led by two black sedans and followed by the limousines as it arrived at 1:30 p.m., ahead of schedule.

“It was almost that it was appropriate that it rained,” said John Hansen, an ardent Nixon fan who lives across the street from the library and sold parking spots in his driveway at $10 a pop. “It was part of the mourning and grieving and cleansing.”

Torrents of water turned the street into a patchwork quilt of umbrellas. The entourage was met by the Rev. Billy Graham, a longtime friend of the Nixon family, and there was another military honor guard. After a brief ceremony, the coffin was placed in the library lobby for the viewing.

The crowd was about 20 rows deep, so few could see the ceremony.

But 9-year-old Cleve Samson had a good view from his perch atop his father’s shoulders. He also got an instant lesson in using a 35-millimeter camera.

“Can you see it?” Cliff Samson, Cleve’s father, asked.

“Just whatever you can take pictures of,” Cliff Samson continued. “Go ahead take another. Do it again. Click it again.”

The Samsons were among about 1,000 people who had skipped work or school to share a moment of history. They began lining the streets around the library about noon.

Some set up lawn chairs, others munched on snacks as television crews surveyed the crowd. Several even held banners aloft. “Jesus Saves Sinners from Hell,” said one. Four Cambodian refugees from Long Beach offered a wreath from the “Khmer Republic.” Someone was selling black armbands for $3.

“There’s history being made here today,” said 69-year-old Freda Halsey, who has lived in Yorba Linda for 27 years.

“This is one of the great events of our country,” agreed Glendale resident Ruth Norwood, 78.

Newport Beach resident Jennifer-Erin Jana, 9, stood in a red sweater with white stars, holding a poem she had written.

“Richard Nixon, what a man. Did his best at whatever he can,” went the simple rhyme, which the girl had pasted on a piece of red construction paper. “We have lost a man that is brave. But now he goes to his grave.”

Diana York sat on the corner of Yorba Linda Boulevard and Eureka Avenue, knitting a white sweater, waiting with Mitchell, 11, the oldest of her four grandchildren.

“I think he should know his heritage,” York said of the young boy. “Nixon made a lot of mistakes, but he was a great statesman at the end of his life. I want him to see that.”