Branch was born in Hamlet, North Carolina, the fourth son of an African Methodist Episcopal Zion minister[1][2] 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.

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.

[3] In June 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had opened the Marine Corps to African Americans through Executive Order 8802, which prohibited racial discrimination by any government agency.

He was re-activated during the Korean War, serving at Camp Pendleton, California in command of an antiaircraft training platoon.

[2] 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.