***UPDATE*** The funeral service for SrA Michael Buras will be broadcast on WRDO 96.9 beginning at 11 AM on Wednesday.
Senior Airman Michael John Buras, 23, of Fitzgerald, Georgia died Tuesday, September 21, 2010 of wounds suffered during an improvised explosive device detonation in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.
Funeral services will be held 11:00 AM Wednesday, October 6, 2010, at Arbor Baptist Church, Fitzgerald with Dr. Lloyd Stembridge officiating. The procession will leave Paulk Funeral Home at 10:30 AM and travel south on Main Street to Roanoke Drive, then west on Roanoke Drive to Merrimac Drive, then north on Merrimac Drive and circle behind First Baptist Church from Orange Street to Jessamine Street passing directly in front of Fitzgerald High School, then continue north on Merrimac Drive to Arbor Baptist Church. Interment will follow in Andersonville National Cemetery in Andersonville, GA at 3:30 PM with full military honors. The family will receive friends from 6-9 Tuesday evening at Arbor Baptist Church.
Airman Buras was born July 28, 1987 in Tifton, Georgia to John E. Buras and Joy Ann Butrica Buras. He grew up in Fitzgerald, graduating from Fitzgerald High School in 2005. He was very active in the DLS sports programs. He was an avid Purple Hurricane soccer team member for 4 years, having been named to the Who’s Who of Georgia Soccer. Airman Buras was an Explosive Ordinance Disposal Journeyman in the United States Air Force assigned at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada with Headquarters Air Combat Command, 99th Air Base Wing, 99th Civil Engineer Squadron and was a Purple Heart recipient from a previous deployment.
He is survived by his wife: Emily Clark Buras of Las Vegas, Nevada; daughter: Maddison Joy Buras of Las Vegas, Nevada; father: John E. Buras of Oroville, CA; mother: Joy Buras of Fayetteville, NC; sisters: Michelle Bychurch and Samantha Buras; brother: Stanley Bychurch, all of Fayetteville, NC; maternal grandparents: Irving & Olive Butrica of Fitzgerald; paternal grandparents: Paul & Pauline Buras and Betty Hartley, all of Fitzgerald.