BRAINTREE, Mass. (AP) – A World War II airman from Braintree who disappeared during a training mission in 1944 has been buried at Arlington National Cemetery, four years after his remains were discovered in New Guinea.

Army Air Force 2nd Lt. John Milton Meisner, 24, was the bombardier aboard a B-24 stationed in Nadzab, New Guinea. The plane crashed in bad weather on Oct. 9, 1944.

In November 2002, villagers in Papua, New Guinea, found two sets of dog tags, later identified as belonging to two members of the plane’s nine-man crew. Two months later, military specialists excavated the site and found more human remains.

Meisner was identified after his first cousin, Laura Erickson, 86, of Brockton, provided a DNA sample.

Erickson said her cousin was always interested in flying, and went into aircraft manufacturing after high school. He was a government inspector before entering the Air Force. He married Carol McMurphy and lived with her in Los Angeles.

Meisner’s remains were buried with four other crewmen Tuesday at Arlington, The Patriot Ledger of Quincy reported.

“It’s sort of a feeling of relief,” Erickson said, speaking of the return Meisner’s remains to the United States. “At least you knew that he was found and that he was coming home.”