Manhattan ? Turning down a chance for dinner at the White House, Army Pfc. Patrick Miller, a former prisoner of war in Iraq, received a hero’s welcome Saturday from Kansas State University football fans.

During a halftime ceremony at the team’s annual spring scrimmage, Miller thanked “everybody for all the support they have given me.”

He also urged the more than 12,000 spectators not to forget the troops still in Iraq and “those who died for what we have.”

“This is why we live in the greatest country in the world,” said Miller, 23, of Park City, in his first public appearance in Kansas since arriving home Thursday night.

The ceremony, which was coach Bill Snyder’s idea, was part of a tribute by the university to troops from nearby Fort Riley.

Plaques and team-signed footballs were presented to Miller, post commander Brig. Gen. Frank Helmick, and the family of Sgt. Jacob Butler, of Wellsville, who was killed in Iraq.

Accepting the plaque and football were Butler’s twin brother, Joe, and his parents, Cynthia and James Butler. The brother brushed away tears after receiving the items.

Jacob Butler was killed April 1 when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle at Assamawah. Saturday was the 25th birthday for the twins.

Spectators, many with heads bowed, stood in silence as a trumpeter played taps in honor of Butler and Spec. Larry K. Brown, of Jackson, Miss., another Fort Riley soldier killed in Iraq.

At the start of the game, Miller, wearing desert camouflage fatigues, rode into the stadium in an army utility vehicle as thousands stood and cheered.

Pfc. Patrick Miller, center, shakes hands with Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder during a presentation before K-State's spring football game in Manhattan. Miller, a former prisoner of war in Iraq, presented a football to the captains of the team before the start of Saturday's game.

A smiling Miller walked to the center of the field, where he presented the game ball to the team captains. He shook hands with the players and spoke briefly to Snyder.

Chants of “USA, USA” rose as he left the field. Walking up the steps of the stands, spectators reached out to shake hands and pat him on his back.

Miller turned down a chance for dinner at the White House with other former POWS to stay in Kansas and attend the game, said Lt. Col. Todd Livick, Fort Riley spokesman.

He said there would be other chances for Miller to go to the White House and meet the president.

“He wanted to stay in Kansas and be with his family,” Livick said. “He’s a big K-State fan and it’s big day for him.”

Livick said Miller wasn’t doing interviews at the request of the Department of Defense.

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, who attended the game, said he saw nothing wrong with Miller’s decision to spend his first weekend in Kansas with his family.

“I think the president does understand fully,” said Roberts, R-Kan.

Attending the game with Miller was his wife, Jessa, and mother, Mary Pickering, of Farmington, N.M. They sat in a VIP suite with the Butler family and college and Fort Riley officials.

Miller, who graduated from high school in Valley Center in 1998, was in good spirits, Livick said.

“He’s doing well. He seems to have a very stable head on his shoulders,” he said.

Miller, on a 30-day leave, is a member of the 507th Maintenance Company at Fort Bliss, Texas.

He was among five Fort Bliss soldiers freed April 13 near Tikrit in northern Iraq along with two helicopter pilots.

Miller and the other Fort Bliss soldiers were captured March 23 near the southern city of Nasiriyah when their convoy was ambushed.

Pfc. Jessica Lynch, also captured in the ambush, became separated from the others and was rescued April 1 by special operations forces in a hospital near Nasiriyah.