Soon promoted, well deserved During his first decade of service in the Army, he trained NATO forces in West Germany, and ran a sabotage and reconnaissance school for the 10th Special Warfare Group. "Anytime you can bring a service member home and give families closure, there's nothing better," said Hollingsworth, who recalled the look on families faces when they get the news. Please keep up the awesome work! In the last stages of the war, he surrendered to the British and eventually returned to Finland after escaping a British POW camp, the account at War History Online reads. When Sweden forbade further exports to the US in protest to the war in Vietnam the government tasked Smith and Wesson with contriving a replacement. In the United Sates, Larry Thorne is forgotten by all but a few. One of the members of the Finnish team was Thorne's own nephew, Juha Rajala. Top 3 Results for Larry Thorne in AL. Thorne hated the Communists and their ideology so much, it sparked a vendetta he would take to his grave. Larry Alan Thorne was born on May 28, 1919 and joined the Armed Forces while in Norwalk, Connecticut. After Finland fell to the communists, Captain Torni joined the German SS in order to continue fighting the communists. ISBN : 0-934793-65-4 When he returned, he was then arrested by the Finns, even though he had received their Medal of Honor and was sentenced to six years in prison for treason.. Legacy Thorne's U.S. memorial is the Larry Thorne Headquarters Building, 10th SFG (A), Fort Carson, Colorado. While with 10thGroup he led a successful covert mission into Iran to recover sensitive equipment and bodies from a downed USAF C130 cargo plane. 2. Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: CH34 Seahorse Hn palveli Suomen armeijassa kapteenina, kansallissosialistisen Saksan Waffen-SS-joukoissa 1941 Untersturmfhrerin ja 1945 Hauptsturmfhrerin (kapteeni) sek . A Soldier of 3 armies knows the game Major Harold Nipper flew the lead Bird Dog. According to historian Max Boot, more than 200 Eastern Europeans joined Army Special Forces before the Act expired in 1959, including Lauri Trni, who enlisted in 1954 under the name Larry Thorne. A new legend has been born Limited 100 pcs Larry Thorne 100 years anniversary knife has individual engraved numbering, 1/100 - 100/100. Other Personnel In Incident: (none missing). His father a ship captain, Trni had two younger sisters. - Follow me, Thorne shouted and started running towards his estimated landing site. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, section 60, tombstone 8136, on 26 June 2003. Trni was a dedicated and brave soldier, and he quickly rose to the rank of captain and took command of a group of ski troops. Larry Thorne (born Lauri Trni) was a war hero who fought under three different flags. Changed his name to Larry Thorne, From the Finnish lakes, Intense search efforts were initiated at first light the next morning and continued for the next month, but found not trace of the missing Kingbee, its crew and passenger. 31 people named Larry Thorne found in Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, Fresno and 6 other cities. Lauri Allan Trni (28 May 1919 - 18 October 1965), later known as Larry Thorne, was a Finnish Army captain. He is the only veteran of the Waffen SS interred in this hallowed space. He transferred to Samford University's Howard College, where . The 5th Special Forces Group channeled personnel into MACV-SOG (although it was not a Special Forces unit) through Special Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their cover while under secret orders to MACV-SOG. If I could have carte blanc to craft any work of fiction it would be to retire behind my MacBook and resurrect the tale of Casca in a modern context. However, late in the war, SS formations would have been armed predominantly with the MP40 SMG, the Kar 98k bolt-action rifle, and the MP44 assault rifle. CPT Thorne was listed as missing and was subsequently promoted to Major. Thirty of the Finnish Army infantrymen who accompanied Trni on numerous dangerous missions in World War II are still alive, among them Finland's former President Mauno Koivisto. Thorne had other plans. The Arlington National Cemetery is in Virginia, across the Potomac River from the nation's capital, Washington DC. Thorne took over operating the small family farm with the goal of instilling in his children the values and rewards . . He supported himself working as a carpenter and cleaner. Thank you for your service and what you do! Lauri Torni hated the threat of communism so much that he was willing to join any army to fight it. The flight arrived over the target area just before sundown. In spite of the existing conditions, the FAC pilot believed the low flying helicopters could weave around the worst of it and called for the rest of the mission's aircraft to launch. He grew from a young 18-year old volunteer at the onset of the Finland-USSR Winter War (1939-40), to a winner of the Mannerheim Cross (the Finnish equivalent of the American Congressional Medal of Honor), to a prisoner . Still, he refused and instead requested command of a special-operations base, and thats what he lived and died for. US forces called it the Swedish K or K Rifle. All Local Sales are FREE! The air component of this operation consisted of a pair of RVNAF (Republic of Vietnam Air Force) H34s as well as a USAF O-1 Bird Dog Forward Air Controller aircraft. The second H34 dropped through a hole in the clouds to insert a six-man surveillance team. If Larry Thorne died in the loss of the Kingbee, he has a right to have his remains returned to his family, friends and country. Facebook gives people the power to. In stock He was assigned to the Military Assistance Command, VietnamStudies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG). The wartime head of the OSS knew of Thornes commando exploits.. At the SOG PUC presentation - SOG guys with Larry Thorne Knives Submitted by Jari of Finland: Nugent Cal Ky, President of South Vietnam and Robert L. Noe: LZ Duc Co near the village and the fence along Highway 19. . May 9, 2011. 1. As Shultz tells it, In September 1944, Finland surrendered to the Soviet Union. Shout, Lauri Trnis name Following Finland's second defeat to the Russians, Torni was imprisoned by the communists as a war criminal. If anything, his American commanding officers, peacetime and wartime, considered him one of the most professional soldiers they had ever met. He was a recipient of the Mannerheim Cross, Finland's highest award for gallantry in the field. In twelve years of service, he attained the rank of Major. My stepdad was a civilian spy for Larrys team. Political alliances in the 1940s were complicated, and when arrayed against the Russian bear the Finns found themselves fighting alongside the Germans. From 1958 through 1962 Thorne served with the 10thSpecial Forces Group in Bad Tolz, West Germany. Soon promoted, well deserved, The third soldier, a machine-gunner, was recognised from his identification tag. No one was hurt, however, apart from a few bruises and contusions. He joined the Germans, attended their school for guerrilla warfare, and then fought with their marines until the war ended. Lauri Alan Trni. 3. Menu. Thorne joined the U.S. Army and his expertise in guerrilla warfare led him into the Special Forces Group, where he was commissioned a first lieutenant, eventually rising to the rank of captain and commanding a Special Forces team in Vietnam, before joining SOG. Email Us pianolektioner liding The Soviets wanted to get their hands on Thorne and forced the Finnish government to arrest him as a German wartime collaborator, the account at Arlington Cemetery.net reads. This mission initially formed his status as a U.S. Special Forces legend, but it was his deep strategic reconnaissance and interdiction exploits with Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observation Group, also known as MACV-SOG, that solidified his legendary status. Lauri Trni (1919-1965) was a World War II hero and a recipient of the Mannerheim Cross the highest award for gallantry on the field in his native Finland. These unconventional warfare warriors had to be able to master critical military skills needed to train and lead guerrilla warriors, to be inserted anywhere in the world by any means of transportaion, to survive the most hostile environment, and to take care of themselves and others under the pressures of harsh combat conditions and isolation. As the weather worsened, Larry Thorne continued to orbit D-1 near the landing zone in case RT Iowa ran into trouble. His incredible path of true warrior started in Finland when he was born in 1919. Lauri Torni was born on May 25, 1919, in Viipuri, a town on the Karelian isthmus just north of Petrograd. After that, only silence was heard in response to repeated attempts to raise anyone aboard the Kingbee. | Strategic Landpower Forum. During two tours in Vietnam with the MACV-SOG, Thorne ran deep cover into Cambodia and Laos to track down the North Vietnamese supply network that became known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In June of 1998, the book THE SOLDIER UNDER THREE FLAGS was made available by Pathfinder publishing. Arlington's most famous grave, accompanied by an eternal flame, is that of President John F. Kennedy. The remains of the Finnish war hero Lauri Trni (also known as Larry Thorne) was buried with full military honors in the Arlington cemetary yesterday. Although his chopper crashed and he was listed MIA for over three decades, the mission was a success: his men called in 51 air strikes to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail supply stations and made it out alive. Lauri Allan Trni! Roughly five minutes later, while flying in poor visibility and bad weather, the helicopter crashed. Since the end of the Vietnam War well over 21,000 reports of American prisoners, missing and otherwise unaccounted for have been received by our government. There he became an instructor and taught skiing, survival, mountaineering, and guerrilla tactics. The book is well researched but written sometimes in a slightly clumsy way with lots of repeats of the same facts, there goes one star. Larry Alan Thorne is listed as Missing in Action. Most important, the Special Forces warriors had to posses the intelligence, knowledge, tact, and acumen to successfully transform ordinary civilians into an effective military threat to a strong and cunning occupation army. Country of Loss: South Vietnam (official); Laos (actual) Photographic evidence of Tornis service with the Waffen SS is scant. Convinced that Communism represented an existential threat to the Finnish way of life, Torni traveled to Germany and trained in sabotage and unconventional warfare with the SS. This aircraft was already quite old when they arrived in the battle zone. Major Thorne was one of those individuals that hated Communism so completely, that it didnt matter to him which Flag he fought under, as long as the mutual goal was the defeat of Communism. When rescue workers went to the site, they recovered the remains of the Vietnamese crew, but found no sign of Larry Thorne. It was concluded that Thorne's Choctaw had crashed into the side of a mountain while flying nap-of-the-earth. As a result, despite his holding the Mannerheim Cross Torni was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison. Required fields are marked *. 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