Lauri Törni

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Lauri Törni
       (Larry Thorne)
Sonderkommando Nord

United States:

  • 7th Special Forces Group
  • 11th Airborne Division
  • 10th Special Forces Group
  • 5th Special Forces Group
Commands heldFinland Detachment Törni
Battles/warsWorld War II

Vietnam War

Awards
Pardoned
Conviction(s)Treason
Criminal penalty6 years imprisonment

Lauri Allan Törni (28 May 1919 – 18 October 1965), later known as Larry Alan Thorne, was a Finnish-born soldier who fought under three flags: as a

Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS when he fought the Red Army on the Eastern Front in World War II;[3] and as a United States Army Major (under the alias "Larry Thorne") when he served in the U.S. Army Special Forces in the Vietnam War
.

Törni died in a helicopter crash during the Vietnam War and he was promoted to the rank of major posthumously. His remains were located three decades later and then buried in Arlington National Cemetery; he is the only former member of the Waffen-SS known to be interred there.

Early life and education

Christened Lauri Allan Törni, he was born in

Rautu.[6]

Career

World War II

Vänrikki Lauri Törni after graduating from cadet school in 1940

During the battles at Lake Ladoga, Törni took part in the destruction of the encircled Soviet divisions in East Lemetti.[7]

His performance during these engagements was noticed by his commanders, and toward the end of the conflict, he was assigned to officer training where he was commissioned as a

Vienna, Austria for seven weeks of training with the Waffen-SS, and returned to Finland in July; as a Finnish officer, the Germans recognized him as an Untersturmführer.[9]
Most of Törni's reputation was based on his successful actions in the Continuation War (1941–44) between the Soviet Union and Finland. In 1943, a unit informally named Detachment Törni was created under his command. This was an infantry unit that penetrated deep behind enemy lines and soon enjoyed a reputation on both sides of the front for its combat effectiveness. One of Törni's subordinates was future President of Finland Mauno Koivisto.[10] Koivisto served in a reconnaissance company under Törni's command during the Battle of Ilomantsi, the final Finnish-Soviet engagement of the Continuation War, during July and August 1944. Törni's unit inflicted such heavy casualties on Soviet units that the Soviet Army placed a bounty of 3,000,000 Finnish marks on his head.[11] He was decorated with the Mannerheim Cross 2nd Class on 9 July 1944.[12]

Shoulder patch of Detachment Törni

The September 1944

Lübeck, Germany.[16]

Törni in a Waffen-SS uniform during training in 1941

As his family had been

Valpo, the Finnish state police.[17] After escaping, he was arrested a second time in April 1946, and tried for treason for continuing to serve in the German military during the Lapland War.[2] A trial in October and November resulted in a six-year sentence in January 1947. Imprisoned at the Turku provincial prison, Törni escaped in June, but was recaptured and sent to the Riihimäki State Prison.[18] President Juho Paasikivi granted him a pardon in December 1948.[19]

A plaque in Hotel Tammer, Tampere, about Lauri Törni's jägers being banned from meeting there in 1946.

Emigration to the United States

In 1949, Törni, accompanied by his wartime

Caracas, Venezuela, where he met one of his Winter War commanders, the Finnish colonel Matti Aarnio, who was in exile[citation needed] in Venezuela after the war. Törni hid on a Swedish cargo ship, the MS Skagen, which traveled from Caracas for the United States in 1950.[20]

While in the Gulf of Mexico, near Mobile, Alabama, Törni jumped overboard and swam to shore. Now a political refugee,[21] Törni traveled to New York City where he was helped by the Finnish-American community living in Brooklyn's Sunset Park "Finntown". There he worked as a carpenter and cleaner. In 1953, Törni was granted a residence permit through an Act of Congress[22] that was shepherded by the law firm of "Wild Bill" Donovan, former head of the Office of Strategic Services.

United States Army

Törni

Finnish-American officers who came to be known as "Marttinen's Men" (Marttisen miehet).[nb 2]

With their support, Thorne joined the U.S. Army

10th Special Forces Group in West Germany at Bad Tölz, from where he was second-in-command of a search and recovery mission high in the Zagros Mountains of Iran, which gained him a notable reputation.[24] When he was in Germany, he briefly visited his relatives in Finland. In an episode of The Big Picture released in 1962 and composed of footage filmed in 1959, Thorne is shown as a lieutenant with the 10th Special Forces Group in the United States Army.[25]

Vietnam War

Deploying to

Tịnh Biên District and assigned to operate Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) encampments at Châu Lăng and later Tịnh Biên.[26]

During a fierce attack on the CIDG camp in Tịnh Biên, he received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star Medal for valor during the battle.[1]

Thorne's second tour in Vietnam began in February 1965 with 5th Special Forces Group; he then transferred to Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV–SOG), a classified US special operations unit focusing on unconventional warfare in Vietnam, as a military advisor.[1]

The last photo of Lauri Törni on October 15, 1965, three days before his death. A reconnaissance team is about to depart on a mission from Kham Duc. Pictured are Vietnamese helicopter pilots, Patrol Leader Charles Petry, Lieutenant Colonel Ray Call, and Captain Larry Thorne.

On 18 October 1965, as part of the operation

Quảng Nam Province, Vietnam, 25 miles (40 km) from Da Nang. While one CH-34 descended through a gap in the weather to drop off the six-man team, the command CH-34 carrying Thorne and the O-1 loitered nearby. When the drop helicopter returned above the cloud cover, both the CH-34 and the O-1 had disappeared.[1][27][28] Rescue teams were unable to locate the crash site. Shortly after his disappearance, Thorne was promoted to the rank of major and posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit and Distinguished Flying Cross.[1]

In 1999, Thorne's remains were found by a Finnish and Joint Task Force-Full Accounting team[nb 3] and repatriated to the United States following a Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport ceremony that included Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Ambassador Pete Peterson.[1]

Shared grave of Thorne and fellow Vietnam War casualties in Arlington National Cemetery

Formally identified in 2003, his remains were buried on 26 June 2003 at Arlington National Cemetery, along with the RVNAF casualties of the mission recovered at the crash site.[29][30] He was memorialized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Panel 02E, Line 126.[31] He was survived only by his fiancée, Marja Kops.[32]

Military awards

Finnish decorations

  • 2nd class Medal of Liberty, 26 July 1940
  • 1st class Medal of Liberty, 24 August 1940
  • 3rd class Cross of Liberty, 9 October 1941
  • 4th class Cross of Liberty, 23 May 1942
  • 2nd class Mannerheim Cross, 9 July 1944
  • 1st Div. Memorial Cross
  • Border Jaeger Troops Cross
  • Defense Forces Bronze Medal

German decoration

United States Army

Badges

Decorations and medals

Distinguished Flying Cross citation

Citation:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) to Major (Infantry), (then Captain) Larry Alan Thorne (ASN: 0-2287104), United States Army, for heroism while participating in aerial flight on 18 October 1965 in the Republic of Vietnam. Major Thorne was operations officer responsible for launching a small, combined reconnaissance patrol on an extremely hazardous mission into a suspected Viet Cong stronghold. Due to the extreme hazards attending this mission, including weather and enemy action, Major Thorne volunteered to accompany submission aircraft during the introduction of the patrol in place of the assigned individual. After delivering the patrol to the landing zone, Major Thorne remained with one aircraft in the immediate area to receive an initial report from the patrol on the ground. This report was mandatory since only the vaguest information was available about enemy disposition near the landing zone. If the patrol were immediately confronted by a superior force, Major Thorne would land and extricate the patrol under fire. This was done with total disregard for the inherent dangers and with selfless concern for the ground forces. In so doing, he exposed himself to extreme personal danger which ultimately led to his disappearance and the loss of his aircraft. He had, however, guaranteed the safe introduction of the patrol into the area, the successful accomplishment of this mission and had positioned himself to react to any immediate calls for assistance from the patrol. Due to Major Thorne's efforts, the mission was accomplished successfully and contributed significantly to the overall mission of interdicting Viet Cong activities within the area. Major Thorne's actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.

General Orders: Department of the Army, General Orders No. 33 (July 26, 1967)

Action Date: October 18, 1965

Dates of rank

Törni (in the middle) as a Finnish Army lieutenant

Finnish Army

  • 3 September 1938, Conscript (reserves)
  • 1 March 1939, Lance Corporal (reserves)
  • 9 May 1940, Second Lieutenant (reserves)
  • 5 March 1942, Lieutenant (reserves)
  • 27 August 1944, Captain (reserves)
  • 6 October 1950, removed from officers list

German Waffen-SS

United States Army

  • Private – 28 January 1954
  • Private First Class – 20 December 1954
  • Corporal – 28 April 1955
  • Sergeant – 17 November 1955
  • 1st Lieutenant, USAR – 9 January 1957
  • Captain, USAR – 30 November 1960
  • Major, USAR (posthumous) – 16 December 1965

Commemoration

In the 1965 book The Green Berets by Robin Moore, the "Sven Kornie" (or Captain Steve Kornie) main character in the first chapter was based on Thorne.[33][nb 4]

In the 1990s, Törni's name became better known, with numerous books being written about him.

Suuret Suomalaiset listing of famous Finns; in the 2006 Suomen Sotilas (Soldier of Finland) magazine listing, he was elected most courageous of the Mannerheim Cross recipients.[35]

In Finland, the survivors, friends, and families of Detachment Törni formed the Lauri Törni Tradition Guild.[36] The Infantry Museum (Jalkaväkimuseo) in Mikkeli, Finland, has an exhibit dedicated to Törni,[37] as does the Military Museum of Finland in Helsinki.[38]

Even before his death, Thorne's name was legendary in US Special Forces.[

Operational Detachment-Alpha in the command.[40] The Special Forces Association Chapter 33 in Cleveland, Tennessee is named after him.[41]

In 2010 he was named as the first Honorary Member of the United States Army Special Forces Regiment[42][43] and in 2011 he was inducted into the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Commando Hall of Honor.[44]

In their 2013 book Tuntematon Lauri Törni [Unknown Lauri Törni], authors Juha Pohjonen and Oula Silvennoinen write that Törni's conviction for treason was justified because the Waffen-SS training he received at the end of World War II was provided to help achieve a

National Socialist coup in Finland.[45][46][47][48][page needed][need quotation to verify] This view has been challenged by Törni Heritage Guild members Markku Moberg and Pasi Niittymäki, who acknowledge that Törni faced pressure from the war and alcohol consumption, but contend that he did not support Germany.[49] Furthermore, Finnish historian and later Minister of Defence (2015–2019) Jussi Niinistö of the right-wing populist Finns Party argued that Törni's training was actually motivated by patriotism towards his native country, and accused Pohjonen and Silvennoinen of stirring up hatred in order to promote sales of their book while disregarding "the fact that in Finland there was a genuine fear that Russia would occupy Finland."[50]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Gill (1998) gives several aliases used by Törni: "Larry Laine" when receiving German training (p. 69); "Auli Haapalainen" after escaping from a British POW camp (p. 83); and "Eino Mörsky" when traveling to Sweden, Venezuela and the United States (pp. 93–94).
  2. US Special Forces
    at its inception.
  3. ^ Per McDowell, Finnish members of the team included publisher Kari Kallonen, reporter Petri Sarjanen, photographer Juha Saxberg, Törni's nephew Juha Rajala, and videographer Tapio Anttila.
  4. OCLC 422663434 "Kornie, originally a Finn, fought the Russians when they invaded his native land. Later he had joined the German Army and miraculously survived two years of fighting the Russians on the eastern front." (p. 30) The book was later made into a movie by the same name, starring John Wayne. The Green Berets at the American Film Institute Catalog
    .

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f McDowell 2002.
  2. ^ a b c Salomaa 2000, pp. 554–557.
  3. ^ "John Mullins: MACV-SOG, Phoenix Program, Blue Light, and security consultant: Ep. 48." Archived 2021-07-24 at the Wayback Machine Interview with John Mullins. The Team House. Archived 2021-02-04 at the Wayback Machine Streamed live on YouTube on June 26, 2020. "John served in Special Forces, including tours in Vietnam, Central and South America, and the Middle East. After his military service, John worked as a security consultant all over the world. He was also the inspiration for the Soldier of Fortune video game."
  4. ^ "Larry Alan Thorne". Geni. June 12, 2019. Archived from the original on May 19, 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  5. ^ Cleverley 2008, pp. 2–3.
  6. ^ Cleverley 2008, pp. 5, 7, 14, 20.
  7. ^ Cleverley 2008, pp. 26–32.
  8. ^ Cleverley 2008, p. 287.
  9. ^ Cleverley 2008, pp. 55, 58.
  10. ISBN 978-0753508237. Archived
    from the original on 2021-07-24. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  11. OCLC 824780162
    .
  12. ^ Knights of the Mannerheim Cross Archived 2014-04-19 at the Wayback Machine (Finnish); accessed 20 September 2014.
  13. ^ Gill 1998, pp. 67–68.
  14. ^ Gill 1998, pp. 69, 72.
  15. ^ Gill 1998, pp. 75–76.
  16. ^ Gill 1998, pp. 77, 82.
  17. ^ Gill 1998, pp. 85–86.
  18. ^ Gill 1998, pp. 90–92.
  19. ISBN 978-9517464512. Teoksen verkkoversio
    .
  20. ^ Cleverley 2008, pp. 185–186.
  21. ISBN 978-1628950205. Archived
    from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  22. ^ "Chapter 422 [H.R. 2604], Private Law 83-168 – An Act for the relief of Lauri Allan Torni" (PDF). 83rd Congress, 1st Session, 1953. 67: A60. 12 August 1953. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  23. ^ Gill 1998, pp. 117–119.
  24. ^ Gill 1998, pp. 127–135.
  25. ^ Phantom Fighters – The Big Picture Archived 2020-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, via YouTube.
  26. ^ Cleverley 2008, pp. 239–245.
  27. ISBN 978-0989551304. Archived
    from the original on 2021-07-24. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
  28. ISBN 0939526050
    .
  29. ^ "Burial Detail: Thorne, Larry A. (Section 60, Grave 8136) Birth Date: 05/28/1919; Death Date: 10/18/1965; Interment Date: 06/26/2003". ANC Explorer. Arlington National Cemetery. (Official website). Archived from the original on 2020-10-16. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  30. ^ Temmes, Asko (12 June 2003). "Legendary Finnish war hero Lauri Törni (Larry Thorne) to get final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery: Remains of victims of 1965 helicopter crash will be interred simultaneously". Helsingin Sanomat. Archived from the original on 17 April 2014.
  31. ^ "Larry Alan Thorne Major SD-5891, HQ, MACV Advisors, MACV. Army of the United States, Norwalk, Connecticut". virtualwall.org. The Virtual Wall® Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  32. ^ "Lauri Törni rakastui kunnolla vain kerran, mutta onnellinen tarina päättyi erittäin lyhyeen" (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. 29 September 2015. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  33. ^ Cleverley 2008, p. 302.
  34. S2CID 143665356. Archived
    from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  35. OCLC 748330780. Archived
    from the original on 2021-07-24. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  36. ^ Os Lauri Törni Perinnekilta ry Archived 2014-04-16 at the Wayback Machine (Lauri Törni Tradition Guild)
  37. OCLC 620134604. Archived
    from the original on 2021-07-24. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  38. ^ "Remember the Military Museum in Helsinki during your summer holiday. 14 June 2012". Archived from the original on April 17, 2014.
  39. OCLC 620150268
    .
  40. ^ Gregory, Jim (30 June 2010). "The Ideal Green Beret". United States European Command Public Affairs Office. Archived from the original on 17 September 2012.
  41. ^ James, Chuck. "Larry A Thorne Special Forces Memorial Chapter XXXIII". chapterxxxiii.sfsarge.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  42. ^ "Lauri Törni sai kunnianosoituksen USA:n erikoisjoukoilta [Larry Thorne honored by US Special Forces]". Kotimaa (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. 9 September 2010. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  43. ^ "Distinguished Member of the Special Forces Regiment: Major Larry Thorne" (PDF). Ft. Bragg, NC: U.S. Army Special Operations Center of Excellence. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017. Inducted June 2010
  44. ^ "Commando Hall of Honor". www.socom.mil. US Special Operations Command. Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  45. ^ Pohjonen, Juha; Silvennoinen, Oula (2013). Tuntematon Lauri Törni [Unknown Lauri Törni] (in Finnish).
  46. ^ "Tuntematon Lauri Törni - Research database Tuhat - University of Helsinki". April 15, 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-04-15.
  47. ^ Määttänen, Markus (24 October 2013). "Juha Pohjonen ja Oula Silvennoinen: Tuntematon Lauri Törni". Aamulehti (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 29 October 2013.
  48. ^ Pilke, Antti (20 October 2013). "Historioitsija: Lauri Törni sekaantui natsikumouksen ajamiseen Suomeen [Historian: Larry Thorne was involved in Nazism in Finland]". Uutiset (in Finnish). Yle. Archived from the original on 25 October 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  49. ^ "Perinnekilta: Lauri Törni ei ollut natsi [Heritage Guild: Larry Thorne was not a Nazi]". Uutiset (in Finnish). Yle. 24 October 2013. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  50. ^ Hirsimäki, Tiina (21 October 2013). "Niinistö: Lauri Törnin menneisyyttä ei ole siloteltu [Niinistö: Lauri Törni's past not smooth]". Uutiset. Yle. Archived from the original on 16 February 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.

References

Further reading

External links
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