77 years after D-Day, 97 year-old veteran finally awarded letter of reprimand

You can run, but you can't hide.

By W.E. Linde

CINCINNATI, Ohio – William “Wild Bill” Kelso, who as a corporal in the U.S. Army helped storm the beaches of Normandy during World War II, suspected that something big was planned for his 97th birthday. But he never guessed that, as friends and family celebrated his special day, he’d experience his greatest surprise since the war: his former platoon commander, accompanied by two active-duty military police, presented him with a letter of reprimand.

“It took forever, but I finally got him,” said 98-year-old former 1st Lt. Loomis Birkhead. “He thought what he did was long forgotten. Well, by heaven, the Army may be slow, but it doesn’t forget what counts: discipline.”

The yellowing and faded LOR indicates that Kelso, prior to boarding the Higgins Boat that would plunge him and his platoon into the jaws of death at Utah Beach, informed Lt. Birkhead that he had both made his bunk and cleaned the “head” on the navy vessel that had transported them from southern England.

“He didn’…