Background
Branch was born in Hamlet, North Carolina, the fourth son of an African Methodist Episcopal Zion minister.
Branch was born in Hamlet, North Carolina, the fourth son of an African Methodist Episcopal Zion minister.
After graduating from high school in Mamaroneck, New York, Branch attended Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, where he became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.
He then transferred to Temple University in Philadelphia. After receiving a draft notice from the Army in May 1943, he reported for induction to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he was chosen to become a Marine. In June 1941, President Franklin Doctorate. Roosevelt had opened the Marine Corps to African Americans through Executive Order 8802, which prohibited racial discrimination by any government agency.
Previously, African Americans had been barred from Marine Corps service.
He underwent training at Montford Point, North Carolina, along with other African-Americans (who became known as the "Montford Point Marines"). Branch applied for Officer Candidate School, but was initially denied.
While serving with a supply unit in the Pacific, his performance earned him the recommendation of his commanding officer He received his officer"s training in the Navy V-12 program at Purdue University, the only African-American in a class of 250.
There, he made the dean"s list.
He was commissioned as a second lieutenant on November 10, 1945. As World World War II had ended, he went into the United States Marine Corps Reserve. (In 1948, John East Rudder would become the first African-American officer in the regular Marine Corps) He was re-activated during the Korean War, serving at Camp Pendleton, California. in command of an antiaircraft training platoon.
He was discharged from active duty in 1952, returning to the Reserve, reaching the rank of captain.
He left the Marine Corps in 1955, as he still experienced covert discrimination and promises for advanced training were not kept. Having received a bachelor"s degree in physics from Temple in 1947, he taught at Dobbins High School in Philadelphia until he retired in 1988.
Captain Branch died 10 April 2005 and was buried at Quantico National Cemetery in Quantico, Virginia.