Thorne was born in Finland in 1919, entered the Finnish army in 1938 and fought in the 1939-40 war against the Soviet Union. Please keep up the awesome work! With two Purple Hearts to his credit and his first tour complete, Thorne rotated home to the US. Dr. I thought that I was the only Casca fan! It would also make a simply fantastic movie. As a result, despite his holding the Mannerheim Cross Torni was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison. Lauri Trni aka Larry Thorne as a Special Forces officer played the role of Charlie . Nowadays the Larry Thorne Award is given by the U.S. Army Special . The MP38 was built around a machined steel receiver, while that of the MP40 was pressed from sheet stock. There are probably 40 or more entries on it right now and I usually add a couple each week. korta vadmuskler symtom; ln militr utlandstjnst; a dangerous son update vontae; josh and jesse feldman net worth There he entered the U.S. military and became a decorated and much-revered Vietnam War hero in Special Forces. In thick clouds near the Laotian border, the helicopter crashed into a mountaintop. During the course of World War 2, the Germans accepted volunteers from across Europe and the occupied territories for the SS. After the wars, he moved to the United States. 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. . He was assigned to the Military Assistance Command, VietnamStudies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG). He fought under three flags: Finland (The Finnish Army during the Winter War and Continuation War) Germany (one of the Finnish SS-volunteers) USA (joined the US Army, known as Larry Thorne) Cheers, Larry Thorne was a warriors warrior, so he naturally gravitated toward the US Special Forces. Refine Your Search Results. Turn-ons include vintage German machineguns, flying his sexy-cool RV6A airplane, Count Chocula cereal, and the movie Aliens., Previous post: Alaska Arms: Ruger M77 Rings and Extra Round Floorplate, Your email address will not be published. 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. Later that same evening, Larry was telling war stories from his days in Finnland. Lauri Trni ended up serving only half his sentence before the president of Finland pardoned him in 1948. Lane Raven Dawn. The flight arrived over the target area just before sundown. He escaped, made his way to the United States, and with the help of Wild Bill, Donovan became a citizen. Thorne's photo is maintained in a pre-capture photo group shown to defectors for POW/MIA identifications purposes, yet Thorne was classified killed in action the day after the crash. US Army Huey gunships launched at the same time to provide air cover should it be needed at any time during the mission. 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. While much of the writing is fairly vapid, that was an incredibly cool plot device. Army Special Forces and CIA operators used the weapon as well. Larry had no idea what to make of that and watched the others at the table eat them, then he dove in and loved them. After the end of hostilities, the fiercely anti-Communist Trni found life at home difficult, and he emigrated to the United States. Yep. Two of the South Vietnamese lieutenants were identified from DNA samples. Makes going to the doctor so much easier. I will also secure a name and address in Finland for anyone desiring to dispatch a card to Juha and/or Salme, the last surviving sister of Larry. Soon promoted, well deserved, My point wasnt so much that Thorne was a mercenary as that he fought in a lot of places for a lot of flags over a long period of time. Thorne hated the Communists and their ideology so much, it sparked a vendetta he would take to his grave. Dont listen to these people, Larry. Larry Alan Thorne is listed as Missing in Action. The aircrafts wreckage was found before the end of the war, and the remains of the South Vietnamese aircrew were recovered, but Larry Thornes body was never found. In 1943 he took command of his eponymous Detachment Torni, a deep penetration special operations unit that took the fight to the Russians deep in their rear areas, cut off and alone. Finnish operators were issued with a spare barrel to use when the first overheated. Thank you Dr. Dobbs for bringing Major Larry Thorne into th public eye once again. Larry Alan Thorne was born on May 28, 1919 and joined the Armed Forces while in Norwalk, Connecticut. The Swedish K was an open-bolt full auto-only design of a fairly conventional layout. When North Vietnam began to increase its military strength in South Vietnam, NVA and Viet Cong troops again intruded on neutral Laos for sanctuary, as the Viet Minh had done during the war with the French some years before. 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.. to the site, they recovered the remains of the Vietnamese crew, but found no sign of Larry Thorne. Major Thornes remains were finally definitively identified in 2003, and he and his teammates were repatriated to the US. 3. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, section 60, tombstone 8136, on 26 June 2003. . On October 18, 1965, he was on a covert mission into Laos, riding in a South Vietnamese Air Force H-34 helicopter. During one particularly intense attack on CIDG forces at Tjnh Bien he earned a Bronze Star for Valor. Torni found life in Finland difficult after the war and moved to the United States, enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1954 and later gaining citizenship. TV Shows. Feature Articles, The all aircraft circled the area looking for a way to get down to the clearing through the thick angry clouds that blanketed the area. Unlike similar weapons, the Suomi KP featured an easily exchanged barrel. This weapon was formally designated the Kulsprutepistol m/45. The Finnish-American war hero is on the left in the picture with some American and South Vietnamese brothers in arms. During World War II, Torni trained with the Waffen SS in Germany and fought alongside Finnish and German guerrillas against the Soviets. See my book Born a Soldier, the Times and Life of Larry Thorne, or my website for more insight about all this. He left his home-country to fight for one that was not his native home, but for the men to the left and right of him.". As Cowboy and Mustachio flew toward the east, they reported low-level visibility so bad that they had to climb to 8,500 feet in order to clear the top of the clouds. Separating the remains of the crash victims, however, turned out to be an impossible task, which led to a pragmatic decision to organise a joint burial at Arlington. Larry Thorne - Special Forces Legend. * The original article was originally published at the We Are The Mighty. Menu. But instead of surrendering, he joined up with the Nazi German SS to continue his fight against the Soviets. Not that being put into a prison camp would stop him either. 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. Advise. Larry Thorne in the U.S. Army. Lauri Allan Trni! Facebook gives people the power to. At 1810 hours, Major Nipper released the B-57s and began his own return flight to Kham Duc. Lauri Allan Trni (vuodesta 1954 Larry A. Thorne; 28. toukokuuta 1919 Viipuri - 18. lokakuuta 1965 Khm cin alue, Etel-Vietnam) oli kolmen maan armeijassa palvellut suomalainen sotilas ja Mannerheim-ristin ritari. Larry Thorne knife Os Lauri Trni Perinnekilta ry logo was handcrafted with saw, file and pliers from silver. Larry Thorne (born Lauri Trni) was a war hero who fought under three different flags. Contents hide 1 Introduction 2 The Nazi era 3 Joining the US Army Special Forces Anyway watch fer snakes down there! His remains were never found. Regardless of his background, each SF volunteer underwent strenuous physical conditioning, including paratrooper training, and was extensively tested to determine his best skills and abilities. He joined the Germans, attended their school for guerrilla warfare, and then fought with their marines until the war ended. Searches of the rugged terrain found nothing. These teams earned a global reputation as one of the most combat effective deep-penetration forces ever raised. He is the only veteran of the Waffen SS interred in this hallowed space. Staff 5. Of the many distinguished officers the 20 th century produced, Larry Thorne was one of the most romantic and enigmatic. 31 people named Larry Thorne found in Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, Fresno and 6 other cities. Commentdocument.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a9eba1495e90241be32358ee99670b5b" );document.getElementById("c08a1a06c7").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Content on this website is free to use and share, but please provide a link back to Spec Ops Magazine as a source. "Whenever I think of a country, it brings back memories," he said. Thorne was selected for the Special Forces and ultimately led an important mountain rescue mission to a crashed USAF plane in the middle east. He hit the ground running, travelling the globe 280 days out of the year on recovery missions. Trni was severely wounded after he skied into a mine during 1942, but that didnt slow him down. At the time he went missing CPT Thorne was armed with a Swedish Carl Gustav m/45 submachine gun. During the early years of World War II, he developed, trained and commanded the Finish ski troops. No one, they say, is better equipped to survive than Larry Thorne. I believe that is what he wanted to be and who he was. Like most of Europe, Finland had a tough time of it during the war. That is where Lauri Trni saw his opportunity for a new beginning. In order to control and lead irregular fighters, they had to understand people, languages, and foreign cultures. In 1999 a US/VN JTF/FA conducted an excavation of a CH-34 KINGBEE crash site and recovered several fragments of bones, miscellaneous equipment and a Swedish K SMG. His incredible path of true warrior started in Finland when he was born in 1919. Suomi KP/-31 is short for Suomi-konepistooli or Finland Submachine Gun. One of the most successful SMG designs of WW2, the Suomi KP was a rugged machined steel open-bolt weapon that fed from either 36-round stick magazines or 71-round drums. Been a hectic week, so Im a few days late reading this one. A new legend has been born His valor earned him the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Mannerheim Medal. While with 10thGroup he led a successful covert mission into Iran to recover sensitive equipment and bodies from a downed USAF C130 cargo plane. At the end of the Winter War, Torni joined the German SS to fight the Russians. Is this the Will Dabbs from Clarksdale? 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. Based on that limited evidence coupled with a series of forensic and DNA tests, it has taken the USG till now to arrive at a conclusive decision that this was in fact Larry's ill-fated aircraft. The day before the interment, a memorial service will be arranged. A captivating story about controversial war hero Larry A. Thorne who during World War II fought against the Russians, under the Finnish flag and later under the German flag. Dr. Dabbs this was an great article, I thought that I was the only Casca fan, I started reading them in the early 80s! by J. Michael Cleverley. He was 36 years old when he attended Airborne school. Movies. The Tradition Guild will send representatives to the funeral, and the Finnish Defence Forces will decide on their participation next week. Theyre just bitter and jealous and right. Country of Loss: South Vietnam (official); Laos (actual) Funny, your articles are half the reason Im here. Andrea Ramos, 33, was indicted Wednesday on a charge of making a terroristic threat against 317th District Court Judge Larry Thorne. Larry Thorne was a hardcore cyclone of SMG-chunking bullet rage who served in the Special Forces of three different countries, led an elite detachment of badass Finnish ski troops on balls-out raids behind Soviet lines during the Winter War, commanded a Waffen-SS sabotage squad during World War II, and was an original United States Army Green In June of 1998, the book THE SOLDIER UNDER THREE FLAGS was made available by Pathfinder publishing. It was rather sad that many of the Foreign Waffen SS conscripts and recruits faced similar dilemmas to Maj. Thorn after WW 2. Larry Thorne and several of his Finnish ex-commanders where the very nucleus of the new Special Forces, Larry himself being the model for John Waynes character in the move "the Green Berets". Arlington Cemetery contains about 270,000 graves, most of them belonging to individuals who served in the U.S. armed forces. These and other feats made Thorne a military legend long before he became a political refugee, jumping overboard from a cargo ship in the Gulf of Mexico near Mobile and eventually joining the Army. He had simply disappeared. It was a mission in which others had failed, but Thornes unrelenting spirit led to its accomplishment. As many of you are aware Larry was lost in the clouds on 18 October 1965 on a CH-34 KINGBEE helicopter from the 219th Vietnamese Air Force Squadron while performing a C&C mission out of Kham Duc for the very first OP-35 cross-border reconnaissance mission (RT Iowa) being conducted by Charles Slats Petry, Willie Card and four little people and never seen again. As the Kingbees and Huey gunships flew low over the countryside, all they could see were rolling hills, wild rivers and waterfalls. Three South Vietnamese soldiers had accompanied Trni on the ill-fated helicopter flight, returning from a secret mission, probably in Laos. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Son of Finland and a Green Beret His remains were never found. Finland had been caught between two desperate evils and was anxious to cleanse itself of the Nazi taint. While operating in the Quang Nam Province some 25 miles from Da Nang the three aircraft encountered unexpectedly foul weather. Larry Thorne Against The World. Also on board were three South Vietnamese crew members: Lieutenant Bao Tung Nguyen, First Lieutenant The Long Phan and Sergeant Vam Lanh Bui. Still, he refused and instead requested command of a special-operations base, and thats what he lived and died for. This aircraft was already quite old when they arrived in the battle zone. Abbott Nathan Scott. Larry Thorne, born August 5, 1956 to the late Jason C. Thorne and Lillian Cooper Thorne in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. My stepdad was a civilian spy for Larrys team. Great story! Eventually, he attended airborne school and earned his silver wings as a Green Beret. By the time the U.S. entered Vietnam, Thorne had annihilated enemy forces in waist-deep sub-zero snowdrifts, in mud-covered rainforests and commanded black ops in the Middle East. Soviet enemy #1. In Finland, hopes were raised for the national hero's possible burial in his home country. 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. (Bees) of the mission recovered at the crash site. Abrams Kimberly Storey. 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. The plane was carrying classified equipment and three earlier attempts to reach it had failed. Knowledge 5. RT Iowa's landing zone (LZ) would be a slash-and-burn area that resembled an old logging clear-cut from the Pacific Northwest. The weather proved especially hazardous, forcing them to weaving between thunderheads and sunbeams while avoiding sporadic .50 caliber machinegun fire, all of which missed. Three of those laid to rest were South Vietnamese Air Force crew members. Keep it up ! Because of this, he was very familiar with the entire area in which MACV-SOG's teams would be operating. Early on 19 October 1966, the U.S. Army declared that Captain Larry A. Thorne was no longer being listed as Missing in Action, but had been declared Presumed Killed in Action in South Vietnam, not Laos. 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