Thursday Things of Interest VIII

Larry A. Thorne, born Lauri A. Törni was a soldier and captain of three armies. He volunteered in army and got his initial training as veterinarian. His training ended shortly before Winter War started and after the training he was called in service. During the war he was keen to volunteer in missions and for example once his group went through the enemy lines and contacted another Finnish unit behind enemy lines. The commander was surprised that Törni and his men appeared inside the command tent passing even the Finnish guardsmen. Quite sneaky.

During the Continuation War on a patrol mission he was wounded, sent to hospital and from there to home for a recovery leave. He didn't return to hospital and his unit was informed, that Törni was a deserter. The HQ of Törni's unit responded laughing, that Törni has been in the front line for some time. So he "escaped" from holiday to the front line. He later lead several "sissi" or guerrilla operations and got several promotions.

At one point he was training in Germany and because of this connection he was not allowed to fight in the Lapland War, because he couldn't be trusted - at least formally. In the end he got involved with the Germans and got a special training, preparing him to work in case Russia invaded Finland and he could work as a resistant for Finland (and Germany). When this was found out he was found quilty of treason, because during that time Finland was officially in war with Germany.

After the wars he went to Sweden, South America and finally United States where he drafted to US Army and got several special trainings but starting from the bottom (rankwise). He got US citizenship and saw lots of action and got promotions for example in Iran and Vietnam. 1964 he was in a helicopter which crashed and Törni and his men were not found and were listed as MIA. 1966 he was declared dead. 1999 there was another search and remains of the helicopter and bodies were found. 2003 one of the deceased was identified as Törni based on his teeth.

Robin Moore wrote a book called "Green Beret" and the main character was based on Törni. The book was later filmed with John Wayne as a star. I think the movie was "inspired" by Törni's character, but it is not a documentary or a real story. Unsurprisingly Swedish Sabaton has created a song based on Törni, too, but it is not that good. Anyway, it is called "Soldier of 3 Armies". I don't know how long wikipedia page Törni has in English, but the Finnish was is quite long. Use online translator if you want. :)

Törni was captain in Finnish army, in Waffen SS and in US Army (promoted to Major after his dead).

Lauri Törni in the middle

--- In other news ---

No snow, almost 10 degrees and sun shines every now and then. Thursday crew rarely has less than 10 posts a day, let's see how this day turns out.