Sergeant John H. Branic USMC, Requiescat in pace.

Yet another of Our Boys is welcomed home to rest.

From the Altoona Mirror:

MADERA, PA — In August 1942, a Clearfield County Marine was killed during World War II when Japanese forces attacked U.S. troops in the Solomon Islands.

Sixty-four years later, the remains of Sgt. John H. Branic — the namesake of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8822 in Madera — are coming home.

Branic will be buried today with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.

“I think everybody was surprised because it was so many years past,” said Bob Wagner of Madera, past commander of the VFW on Main Street.

The Department of Defense said the U.S. Embassy in the Solomon Islands reported in 1992 the possible discovery of an American soldier’s remains.

Officials also found World War II-era ammunition at the construction site on Guadalcanal.

In 2004, an American researcher with the First Marine Division reported that a native had found a ring with Branic’s initials at the burial site.

“It’s been going on for a while,” Wagner said. “But they [the Department of Defense] kept it very low-key.”

Jim Kephart, one of Post 8822’s charter members, said Branic was the first soldier from Madera to be killed in World War II.

“He was a heck of a nice guy,” Kephart said at the VFW Tuesday night. “You might say we grew up together.

”The Madera VFW had 27 members when it opened in 1949.

A picture of a young Branic in his military uniform hangs on one wall, a tribute to the fallen Marine.

Recently, a group of women came in and saw Branic’s picture behind the bar. They asked to have it moved to where patrons could see it, Wagner said.

“He was a real handsome man, especially when he had his uniform on,” said Betty Ruffner, whose husband, Jim, was a charter member of Post 8822.

Ruffner, 88, was one of the first presidents of the ladies’ auxiliary.

She believes Branic was three years ahead of her at the former Bigler Township High School.

“My husband knew him really well,” she said.

None of Branic’s immediate family members live in Madera, residents said. Most of his high school classmates are deceased.

“We never thought we’d find these remains after all these years,” said Diane Kephart, Jim Kephart’s cousin and a longtime member of the ladies’ auxiliary.