INOLA -- A mile of American flags lined the road from the church to a country cemetery where U.S. Army Pfc. Travis Grigg was remembered, saluted and buried Saturday.

In a solemn homecoming, this Rogers County community of about 1,700 spent Thanksgiving weekend saying goodbye to Grigg, who friends and relatives described as a powerful athlete and "silent leader."

Under military escort, his body arrived Wednesday at Tulsa International Airport, where the family met the casket as it was wheeled across the tarmac, said Larry Grigg, his uncle.

"When he got off the plane, it made me proud, not just to be his uncle, but to be an American," Larry Grigg said.

The 24-year-old was one of four soldiers killed in Iraq on Nov. 15 when a roadside bomb exploded and struck the Humvee in which they were traveling.

On Saturday, hundreds filled First Baptist Church and then followed the procession down a decorated road to Highland Cemetery just outside Inola, where Grigg grew up.

While in school there, he played basketball, football and baseball, before graduating in 1999.

"He always was a team player, and that's how he died," said Luther Martin, a family friend. "He gave his life -- not for family and friends, but for people he didn't even know."

He was awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and a good conduct medal, which the military