BRAINERD, Minn. -- Leo Mustonen's closest surviving relatives have no memory of him, but they've come to know the World War II airman through others since his body was chipped out of a California glacier.

Mustonen's two nieces were among about 100 people who gathered in their uncle's hometown to bury him Friday, more than six decades after the young man disappeared during a training flight. A full military funeral followed at a cemetery overlooking the Mississippi River.

Mary Ruth Mustonen and Leane Ross traveled to Brainerd before the funeral to meet people who remembered their uncle.

"It's been pretty incredible," Ross said. "He's become really a person. He really feels like he is ours now, and we've grown to love him."

Mustonen was 22 when his AT-7 navigational plane disappeared after takeoff from a Sacramento, Calif., airfield on Nov. 18, 1942. An engine, scattered remains and clothing were found over the following years, far from the plane's intended course. All four men aboard were killed in the crash.

But Mustonen's remains were not found until last year, when two mountain climbers in California spotted an arm jutting out of the ice. Forensic scientists at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii analyzed bones, DNA samples and the airman's teeth before declaring in February that the body was Mustonen's.

At the cemetery, Mustonen was honored with a three-volley salute and a bugler playing taps. The military paid for the funeral, as it would for any soldier who died on active duty.

"This is one of the most unique and special days that any of us will ever be a part of," Pastor Andy Smith said. "Today we are burying a small-town boy from Brainerd, Minnesota, who dreamed of flying."

Mustonen was buried alongside his mother, Anna, who grieved for years over the loss of her son.

"He's no longer out there on a mountain alone," Ross said.

The sisters grew up knowing they had an uncle who died in a military plane crash, but the family seldom discussed it.

"Our father was a Finnish man, very reserved," Leane Ross recalled. "He didn't really talk about feelings."

But they learned recently that their uncle was an ace student who excelled in science, who played in the school band and in sports, and who wanted to work in aviation even as a boy.

Mary Ruth was 11 months old when her uncle died. A picture displayed at the service showed Leo, a handsome young blond man, holding her on his lap. Ross had not been born.

The sisters, who both live in Jacksonville, Fla., said they had not been close in the past, but that changed last fall after the Army contacted them.

"I think this has been one of the gifts Uncle Leo's discovery has given his family," Ross said. "A chance to come together again -- to be a family."