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Bay Area WWII Soldier's Remains Returning Home

SAN BRUNO (CBS/AP) -- A Bay Area soldier who died during World War II will be buried near his boyhood home after his remains were discovered on a remote island in the South Pacific.

James Austin Sisney and six other Marines died on April 22, 1944, when their plane crashed on an island known as Espiritu Santo.

For 63 years only the local residents knew about the wreckage.

But in 2007, one of the fallen Marines' relatives tracked down the crash site, the military excavated it and the missing soldiers' identities were confirmed through DNA.

Sisney grew up in Livermore and Redwood City, joined the Marines when he was 17 and died at age 19.

He will be buried Friday at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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