Colin Powell to be remembered as statesman and warrior at Friday funeral

A memorial service for General Colin Powell will be held on Friday at noon at the Washington National Cathedral. President Joe Biden and other dignitaries will attend.

Retired Gen. Colin Powell, the first African American to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and later as the first Black secretary of state, will be remembered and celebrated as a statesman, a warrior and a trailblazer Friday at the Washington National Cathedral.

While attendance is by invitation only, the private service at noon will be nationally televised. ABC News and ABC News Live will present special coverage beginning at approximately 12 p.m. EDT.

Powell died last month at 84 from complications of COVID-19. Though he was fully vaccinated, his immune system was comprised from cancer treatments, his spokesperson said.

"It's really hard to overstate the respect Colin Powell had," said ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz, who covered Powell's career for decades. "When traveling around the world with him, it was almost like traveling with a king -- but Colin Powell, of course, never acted like one."