US Special Forces Legend Larry Thorne
Green Beret hero who had served under three flags
In January 1954, a 35-year old recent immigrant from Finland named Larry Thorne enlisted as a private soldier in the Cold-War era US Army. Thorne, some years before had been something of a war hero in two different armies. Under his given name of Lauri Allan Törni the young Finn had served Finland in the hopeless Winter War (1939-40) and later in their Continuation War (1941-1944) against the Soviet Union. He led ski-borne special units behind Soviet lines on raids and ambushes that kept much larger forces off balance. Not wanting to stop fighting when his country surrendered he joined the Nazi German army and continued his war with the Soviets until the end of World War Two in 1945. He was decorated with both the highest German and Finnish Awards and had attained the rank of Captain in both armies. With nothing left for him in Finland, he immigrated to the United States in 1954 with the help of the Lodge Act.
Enlisting as a private his special skills were immediately apparent and he was promoted to sergeant and made an instructor in mountain and arctic warfare at Ft Carson. This led to selection for the infant Special Forces (Green Berets) and promotion to Lieutenant in 1956. He was soon posted to the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) in West Germany. During that time the 10th SFG (A) was something of the US Army's Foreign Legion as it held military men from throughout Warsaw Pact-occupied Western Europe. Their job in case the Cold War turned hot would be to penetrate their former homelands and conduct sabotage, raid key targets and foster resistance operations. In short, he was training for the type of mission that was bread and butter to him in that last war. In 1962, after serving for a number of years in this special force, Thorne was made a Captain for the third time in his career and sent on a sensitive mission to recover classified documents and equipment from an air force C-130 that had crashed into an impassible mountainside in Iran. The mission had previously failed but Thorne's team was successful.
With the Indochinese conflict beginning to boil, now-Captain Thorne was reassigned to the 7th SFG(A) in Vietnam in 1963. Seeing combat from isolated hilltop camps he earned a bronze star for valor as well as a five purple heart for wounds. Transferred to the 5th SFG(A) after his first tour ended he was later seconded to the cloak and dagger Military Assistance Command-Vietnam- Studies and Observation Group, better known by its acronym MACVSOG in 1965. He was part of a project known as “Shining Brass,” which was the deniable infiltration of Laos by reconnaissance teams to scout for North Vietnamese activity. On October 18, 1965 while flying into Laos to recover a team of eight Nung mercenaries in a South Vietnamese Air Force H-34 helicopter, his aircraft impacted a mist shrouded mountaintop. The Army declared him dead in 1966 and posthumously promoted him to Major, the highest rank he ever attained in any army.
In 1999 the bodies of the aircrew were located along with Major Thorne's. He was identified in part by his Swedish "K" gun that was well known to be part of his personal kit. In 2003 he was interned at Arlington National Cemetery. In Finland he is seen as a hero. In the United States he is also remembered. At Fort Carson, where the 10th SFG (A) is now stationed and where Thorne served as an instructor, the main headquarters building is named Thorne Hall. The 1968 John Wayne movie "Green Berets" main character Sven Kornie, was based loosely on Thorne.
Sources-
Arlington Nation Cemetery listing http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/larry-thorne.htm
Gill, HA Soldier Under Three Flags
Cleverley, Michael A Scent of Glory: The Times and Life of Larry A. Thorne
Finnisches Freiwilligen SS-Bataillon "Nordost" Der Waffen SS maintained by Olli Wikberg http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/quarters/2130/
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