Story highlights Marine Pfc. James B. Johnson was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery

Johnson's remains were only discovered in June 2015

Johnson's nephew, James C. Johnson, helped initiate the search and attended the funeral

Arlington, Virginia (CNN) Pfc. James B. Johnson died in a pitched World War II battle on a Pacific island in 1943, but it was only on Tuesday that his body was laid to rest.

For more than seven decades, he had been missing in action. During those long years, his family and a non-governmental organization dedicated to finding the remains of U.S. service members joined together to continue the search.

Last June, the History Flight NGO made a major discovery: a mass grave on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands. It was close to the site of the Battle of Tarawa where the U.S. clashed with the Japanese on November 20, 1943, and more than 1,000 Americans perished, the 19-year-old Johnson among them.

Using DNA, scientists from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which works closely with History Flight, was able to match Johnson's remains to a living nephew. Identification was also made possible by circumstantial and material evidence and dental records, according to the agency.

Pfc. James B. Johnson, who was killed on November 20, 1943, during the Battle of Tarawa, was buried May 31, 2016, with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Mark Noah, the executive director of History Flight, told CNN that he welcomed the opportunity to "to pay my respects and help close the circle" by attending Johnson's burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

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