Lauri Törni

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 Army officer in the Winter War and the Continuation War ultimately gaining a rank of captain; as a Waffen-SS captain (under the alias Larry Laine) of the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS when he fought the Red Army on the Eastern Front in World War II; 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.

Christened Lauri Allan Törni, he was born in Virolahti, Viipuri Province, Finland, to ship captain Jalmari (Ilmari) Törni, and his wife, Rosa Maria (née Kosonen).

He had two sisters: Salme Kyllikki (b. 1920) and Kaija Iris (b. 1922).

An athletic youth, Törni was an early friend of future Olympic Boxing Gold Medalist Sten Suvio.

After attending Aalto University School of Business and serving with the Civil Guard, Törni entered military service in 1938, joining Jaeger Battalion 4 stationed at Kiviniemi; when the Winter War began in November 1939, his enlistment was extended and his unit confronted invading Soviet troops at Rautu.

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

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 Vänrikki (2nd lieutenant) in the reserves.

After the Winter War, in June 1941, Törni went to 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.

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.

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.

He was decorated with the Mannerheim Cross 2nd Class on 9 July 1944.

The September 1944 Moscow Armistice required the Finnish government to remove German troops from its territory, resulting in the Lapland War; during this period, much of the Finnish Army was demobilized, including Törni, leaving him unemployed in November 1944.

In January 1945, he was recruited by the Pro-German resistance movement in Finland and left for saboteur training in Germany, with the intention of organizing resistance in case Finland was occupied by the Soviet Union.

The training was prematurely ended in March, but as Törni could not secure transportation to Finland, he joined a German unit to fight Soviet troops near Schwerin, Germany.

He surrendered to British troops in the last stages of World War II and eventually returned to Finland in June 1945 after escaping a British POW camp in Lübeck, Germany.

As his family had been evacuated from Karelia, Törni sought to rejoin them in Helsinki but was arrested by Valpo, the Finnish state police.

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.

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.

President Juho Paasikivi granted him a pardon in December 1948.

In 1949, Törni, accompanied by his wartime executive officer Holger Pitkänen, traveled to Sweden, crossing the border from Tornio to Haparanda (Haaparanta), where many inhabitants are ethnic Finns.

From Haparanda, Törni traveled by railroad to Stockholm where he stayed with Baroness von Essen, who harbored many fugitive Finnish officers following the war.

Pitkänen was arrested and repatriated to Finland.

In Sweden, Törni fell in love with a Swedish Finn, Marja Kops, and was soon engaged to be married.

In order to secure employment, Törni traveled under an alias as a Swedish seaman aboard the SS Bolivia, destined for Caracas, Venezuela, where he met one of his Winter War commanders, the Finnish colonel Matti Aarnio, who was in exile 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.

While in the Gulf of Mexico, near Mobile, Alabama, Törni jumped overboard and swam to shore.

Now a political refugee, 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 that was shepherded by the law firm of "Wild Bill" Donovan, former head of the Office of Strategic Services.

Törni enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1954 under the provisions of the Lodge-Philbin Act and adopted the name Larry Thorne.

In the U.S. Army, he was befriended by a group of Finnish-American officers who came to be known as "Marttinen's Men" (Marttisen miehet).

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

While in the Special Forces, he taught skiing, survival, mountaineering, and guerrilla tactics.