Hundreds of police officers from throughout the region stood at attention as an honor guard fired a 21-gun salute, a bugler blew "Taps" and two police helicopters flew low over the grave in a missing-man formation.

Anna Diaz, the mother of a police patrolwoman who worked with Liczbinski, came to the graveside service, standing a respectful distance from the family, to pay her respects.

She didn't know Liczbinski, but she wanted to honor him. She thought of going to the service at the Cathedral Basilica in Philadelphia, then decided that she would go to the grave.

"In the church, everybody talks. But this is the hard moment, when they put him in the grave. It's so sad," she said, her voice cracking.

Bensalem residents had lined Hulmeville Road, the long, straight road to the cemetery, with hundreds of American flags.

Workers at a local company extended the telescoping boom of a crane to hang a 20- by 30-foot flag over the highway near Bensalem High School.

Paul O'Neill and Brian Wright of AmQuip Construction said it was the least they could do to honor Liczbinski, who was fatally shot Saturday in pursuit of three armed bank robbers.

"The police provide us with escorts when we move large equipment in the city," O'Neill said. "We feel like we lost one of our own."

Parked near the green tent that sheltered Liczbinski's family at the burial ground, two Philadelphia Fire Department trucks sat with their ladders extended to form an arch.

Memorial donations may be sent to the Stephen Liczbinski Family Memorial Trust Fund, 901 Arch St., Philadelphia, 19107.