Vincent J. Brancati was born in 1926, son of Elizabeth Brancati who resided in Brooklyn, New York. He resided in Kings County, New York prior to the war. He enlisted in the Army on June 21, 1944 at Camp Upton, Yaphank, New York. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being Single, without dependents. Vincent served as a Private, 549th Field Artillery Battalion, U.S. Army during World War II.

On May 23, 1945, he was a passenger on Flight C-46D (4-77507) which was taking 41 American soldiers that were ill, injured, or repatriated prisoners of war to hospitals in the Paris, France area and was then eventually going to take them all back to the United States. This flight occurred after Germany's surrender on May 7, 1945. However this C-46, for unknown reasons, developed a fire in one of it's two engines and crashed near the village of Taillefontaine, near Paris. All men aboard were killed in the crash. PVT Brancati is now buried in the Epinal American Cemetery, Dinozé, France.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com