Laurens County World War II Vet Honored | Military

More than 100 people came out to Bethsaida Baptist Church in Dublin to honor a local hero.

They dedicated a stretch of highway to Lieutenant Kelso Horne who fought in World War II.

Drivers will now be travel along Kelso Horne Memorial Drive.

Horne was assigned to the 508th Parachute Regiment and participated in the Normady invasion where he and several others were dropped behind enemy lines before the invasion.

It's not the first time the Laurens County native has been honored.  Kelso was titled a hero on the cover of Life Magazine in 1944.

"He is one of the most famous WWII veterans from Georgia and having Dublin as his home is really something," says Rusty Henderson.

"Kelso became a hero in this area. He always swore that he was not a hero, that he did nothing heroic. Well, he jumped out of an airplane going several hundred miles an hour in the middle of the night with Germans shooting at him with a hundred pounds of gear on his back and we think he is a hero. It's the face of Kelso Horne, that determined look that represented millions of Americans servicemen who were determined to win World War II", says Scott Thompson.

After the war, Horne returned to Laurens County where he worked for the United States Postal Service.

Horne passed away on November 25, 2000 at the age of 88.