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LACEYVILLE – The Lacey Street Cemetery was peacefully quiet before slain state Trooper Joshua Miller was buried there on Friday, and it will be again. But for the few hours when several hundred people descended upon it to lay Miller to rest, the site brimmed with mourning, and symbolism abounded throughout.

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Children watch the funeral motorcade in front of the Pittston YMCA on North Main Street on Friday. (Niko J. Kallianiotis/For The Times Leader)

Niko J. Kallianiotis

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People watch the funeral procession for Trooper Joshua Miller, on North Main Street in Pittston on Friday. (Niko J. Kallianiotis/For The Times Leader)

Niko J. Kallianiotis

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Ten police cruisers, aligned along Lacey Street, each with lights flashing and accompanied by a saluting trooper, greeted the reportedly 600-vehicle procession that had snaked its way from Miller’s funeral service at Pittston Area High School’s football stadium.

The hearse followed 47 motorcycles from various law-enforcement agencies, and as it rolled by slowly, a state police horse was led out to walk behind it as a nod to the officer’s last ride.

The horse named Mike, brought from the State Police Academy in Hershey, was fully tacked, but riderless with just a pair of shiny service boots placed backwards in the stirrups.

It took perhaps 45 minutes for the majority of the law-enforcement officers, family and friends to assemble at the gravesite, during which Chris and Terilyn Walters, 15 and 12, respectively, stood watching. Chris, a junior firefighter with the Goodwill Fire Co. in Laceyville, said he didn’t really know Miller, but came anyway “to show my honor for who served the community.” Other residents of this small Wyoming County town also turned out, but stayed at a distance.

After the attendees had assembled, the casket was brought to the gravesite while a New York State Police bagpipe and drum band played “Balmoral.”

From there, religious invocations and prayers were given, and Capt. James Murtin, commander of state police Troop N in Hazleton, spoke. Burying is done for two reasons, he said, either spurred with negative emotions to forget or with passion and hope to watch something grow.

“It’s decision time for those of us today,” Murtin said. “We can bury our fallen hero and let what was inside him grow. … For us to go this route after what happened would shock many as it’s the path less taken.”

“Rob Lombardo, I need you back,” he continued, searching the crowd to see the other trooper who was shot following a high-speed chase and shootout Sunday evening. “Heal up; there are people who need protection. … The keys to Car 2 will be there waiting.”

The symbolism continued with a rifle salute, followed by two buglers playing “Taps,” one beginning as the first finished to suggest an echo, followed by a six-helicopter flyover in which one arced up and out of the formation. The bagpipe band played “Amazing Grace,” and as the band stopped, a lone piper continued and walked off into the distance.

There were other military funeral protocols honoring the former Marine, including the presentation to Miller’s widow of the U.S. flag that had draped his casket, but it was the last act that had people passing tissues throughout the crowd.

Dubbed the “final call,” it began with a dispatcher radioing for Miller’s cruiser and receiving no response. “Swiftwater to Swiftwater 2. … Swiftwater to Swiftwater 2,” she called over a crackling radio. “It’s June 7, 2009. Trooper Joshua Miller, Badge 8819, has gone out of service for the last time.”

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.