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Grantsville • Scores of people Friday lined this city's main street, holding U.S. flags and yellow ribbons as they watched 19-year-old Jordan Byrd's funeral procession head to Grantsville Cemetery.

Just hours earlier, more than 1,000 people gathered in the Tooele South Stake Center for Byrd's funeral service. Byrd, who graduated from Dugway High, was a member of the 101st Airborne Division and was serving as an Army medic. He was killed Oct. 13 near the Pakistan border while helping one of his fellow soldiers who had also been shot during combat.

"We loved him as if he was our own son," said Nathan Small, Byrd's father-in-law, at the service.

Small said Byrd made his daughter Savanna happy and promised the soldier to care for her and their one-month-old son Ayden.

He said there were two things about Byrd he always knew: the young man's confidence was the kind that came from being loved a lot and that he would one day become the doctor he wanted to be.

"I was always so sure he was going to be a doctor, I started bragging," Small said. "He was about helping other people."

Friends from training camp referred to Byrd as friendly, happy, and a sharp dresser who would do just about anything for a friend.

"It took us two hours to go from total strangers to brothers,"said Pfc. Tyler Hartman, who met Byrd a year ago. Hartman recounted how during his birthday at training camp all he wanted was an Oreo cookie. With strict rules of no cookies, he remembered Byrd sneaking an Oreo past inspection and saying, "Brother, I got you."

Pfc. Paul Castleberry said he had known Byrd for less than a year but, that was all it took.

"He touched me like no one has ever touched me in my heart," Castleberry said. He recounted the two getting their first tattoo together and hearing him argue over the phone with his mom all the way to the cash machine.

Castleberry wrote a song about coming home for Byrd, which he performed at the funeral. "Bear with me. I'm not singing to you. I'm signing to Jordan," he told the crowd.

Paying a tribute to his son, Scott Pitt talked about the pride Byrd felt in being part of the 101st Airborne Division. In his first day with the division, he said, Byrd knew more about his comrades than they probably knew about themselves.

"He served with pride. He was what a soldier should be," Pitt said. "It's was no surprise that Jordan acted with courage and bravery like he did because they were his guys."

Byrd was honored with various awards and decorations, including the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal and Combat Medical Badge.

"Jordan, I just hope there's no thunder or lighting in heaven 'cause I don't think God has a big enough bed for you to hide in," Pitt joked, thanking his son. "I couldn't be prouder of you. You will always be our hero."

Michelle Pitt, one of Byrd's distant relatives, noted there were people present from everywhere Byrd had lived.

"He was such a nice boy and always had a big smile,"said Michelle Pitt. "It's such a tribute to the family and Jordan to have this many people come."