On Memorial Day, I try to make an effort to contemplate the soldiers who have died in the service of our country. I like reading about the recipients of every country's highest military honors, their bravery, and their sometimes extra-ordinary actions that are difficult for me to imagine.
I'm especially fascinated with the more obscure soldiers stories that most have never heard of. One person that's come to mind each Memorial Day since I first heard of him is a man named Lauri Allan Törni, a Finnish Army Captain who fought under three nations flags in his lifetime. First Finland, then Germany when he fought against the Soviets, and finally the American flag when he was know as Larry Thorne. His life story is fascinating.
While in the Finish Army he fought against the Soviets, and his unit inflicted such heavy casualties on Russian units that the Soviet Army placed a bounty on his head. He was dissatisfied with the terms of the Finnish peace treaty with the Soviets, which required Finland to take up arms against Germany, so he joined the German Army so he could continue fighting them. He surrendered to British troops before the end of WWII, and ended up in a British POW camp. He escaped, returned to Finland, where he was tried for treason and sentenced to prison. He escaped again, was recaptured, then was pardoned by the Finnish President in 1948.
He came to the US in 1950 when he jumped overboard from a Swedish cargo ship near Mobile , AL and swam to shore. He Joined the US Army in 1954, and ended up in the Special Forces, where he was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in 1957.
He was killed in a helicopter crash in Vietnam on October 18, 1965. His remains were found in 1999 and repatriated to the United States, then formally identified in 2003. They were buried on 26 June 2003 at Arlington National Cemetery.
There have actually been several books written about him, but I don't believe they are widely known in the US. In Finland, the survivors, friends, and families of Detachment Törni formed the Lauri Törni Tradition Guild. The Infantry Museum in Mikkeli, Finland, has an exhibit dedicated to Törni, as does the Military Museum of Finland in Helsinki. He received several medals and awards in his long military career (not the MOH).
An impressive man with a very impressive life story. I'm surprised it hasn't been made into a movie. His wikipedia article is
here, but I'd encourage you to seek out some of the books that have been written about him as well.
God Bless all who have died in service to the USA.
:):)
