That’s how Josh Owen, a Minnesota sheriff’s deputy killed on his 44th birthday, was remembered by the thousands of mourners at his funeral Saturday on a cold, clear spring day.

Drawn by four horses, his flag-draped casket arrived atop a black caisson in the small city of Glenwood, Minnesota Public Radio News reported. A line of tan-uniformed Pope County deputies raised a final salute alongside first responders, military members, Owen’s wife, 10-year-old son and even his police dog.

Owen was fatally shot and two other law enforcement officers were wounded on April 15 while responding to a domestic assault call at a home in the town of Cyrus. The suspect was killed.

Owen served in the Army National Guard and deployed overseas twice to Bosnia and Iraq.

His platoon leader in Iraq, Lt. Col. John Anderson, said Owen “lived up to the definition of a hero,” recalling how he once rescued a trapped truck driver after an ambush.

Pope County Chief Deputy Nathan Brecht tearfully remembered how Owen disliked paperwork but loved working the night shift — and believed law enforcement is a noble profession.

“This man was your protector in Pope County,” Brecht said. “As your family slept soundly, he kept watch.”