Presidents Obama, Clinton attend Byrd funeral

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Presidents Obama, Clinton attend Byrd funeral

Photos: Presidents Obama, Clinton attend Sen. Robert Byrd funeral, July 2010.

The honor guard carries the casket of Senator Robert Byrd down the steps during a memorial service at the State Capitol in Charleston, W. Va., Friday, July 2, 2010.

A West Virginia State Trooper salutes as Byrd's casket passes.

With the president, Vice President Joe Biden and other dignitaries on hand, pallbearers carried the late senator's casket down the red-carpeted steps of the Capitol to its main courtyard for the service honoring Byrd, who died Monday at the age of 92. -- AP

President Barack Obama (second from left, with Gov. Manchin, Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton) eulogized Byrd as a Senate icon, national leader, and "my friend." -- AP

Former President Bill Clinton sought to humanize Byrd after other speakers from Victoria Kennedy, widow of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid canonized him. Recalling Byrd's ability to bring billions of dollars to West Virginia, Clinton said he told the senator: "If you pave every single inch of West Virginia, it's going to be much harder to mine coal." -- AP

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin speaks about the late Sen. Byrd. West Virginians stood atop curbs, craned their necks for a better view and clapped along with Appalachian music -- Byrd was an accomplished fiddler -- and the West Virginia National Guard's 249th Army Band playing John Denver's "Country Roads." -- AP

Emma James Clarkson and Kathryn James Fatemi, great-granddaughters of Sen. Robert Byrd, place a wreath near his casket.

From left: Senators Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and others honor their colleague.

Grace Smiley, 16, of Cross Lanes, W.Va. lays a flower at the casket of Sen. Robert C. Byrd early Friday, July 1, 2010 in Charleston, W.Va.

A horse drawn carriage carrying Sen. Robert C. Byrd leads a funeral procession through the streets of Charleston, W.Va., Thursday, July 1, 2010.

An unidentified man and girl stand during a memorial service for Sen. Robert Byrd, Friday, July 2, 2010, at the Capitol in Charleston, W.Va.

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The honor guard carries the casket of Senator Robert Byrd down the steps during a memorial service at the State Capitol in Charleston, W. Va., Friday, July 2, 2010.

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