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Lauri Törni.
This dude hated communism. Like really fucking hated it. So what did he do? In Finland he fought and killed the shit out of Soviets during the Winter War but that wasn't enough. After its conclusion, he went to Austria for 7 weeks to undertake training with the Waffen SS where he became a Lieutenant.
Törni's unit inflicted such heavy casualties on Russian units that the Soviet Army placed a bounty on his head of 3,000,000 Finnish marks.
In January 1945 he was essentially unemployed but left for saboteur training in Germany to organize resistance in case Finland was occupied by the Soviet Union. Did I mention this dude hated communism? Törni could not secure transportation back to Finland & joined a German unit to fight Soviet troops near Schwerin, Germany. He surrendered to American and British troops in the last stages of World War II and eventually returned to Finland in June 1945.
Dude made his way to South America and stowed away on a Swedish ship heading to the USA. While in the Gulf of Mexico, near Mobile, Alabama, Törni jumped overboard and swam to shore. Now a political refugee.
Törni joined the US army in 1954 where he was taught skiing, survival, mountaineering, and guerrilla tactics. He later received a regular commission and a promotion to captain in 1960. So this dude really still hated communism, so naturally when Vietnam came up he was stoked to fight against some rice-communism.
Deploying to South Vietnam in November 1963 to support South Vietnamese forces in the Vietnam War, Thorne and Special Forces Detachment A-734 were stationed in the Tịnh Biên District and assigned to operate Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) encampments at Châu Lăng and later Tịnh Biên. During a fierce attack on the CIDG camp in Tịnh Biên, he received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star Medal for valor during the battle. This attack would later be described by author Robin Moore in his book The Green Berets.
Thorne's second tour in Vietnam began in February 1965 with 5th Special Forces Group; he then transferred to Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV–SOG), a classified U.S. special operations unit focusing on unconventional warfare in Vietnam, as a military advisor.
On 18 October 1965, he was supervising a clandestine mission during which his Vietnam Air Force CH-34 helicopter crashed in a mountainous area of Phước Sơn District, Quảng Nam Province, Vietnam, 25 miles (40 km) from Da Nang.vRescue teams were unable to locate the crash site. Shortly after his disappearance, Thorne was promoted to the rank of major.
In 1999, Thorne's remains were found by a Finnish and Joint Task Force-Full Accounting team[nb 3] and repatriated to the United States following a Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport ceremony that included Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Ambassador Pete Peterson.
Formally identified in 2003, his remains were buried on 26 June 2003 at Arlington National Cemetery, section 60, tombstone 8136, along with the Vietnam casualties of the mission recovered at the crash site.
Fought under three flags:
And killed a bunch of commies for us in 'Nam. He is on the left:
Buried at Arlington in 2003:
This dude hated communism. Like really fucking hated it. So what did he do? In Finland he fought and killed the shit out of Soviets during the Winter War but that wasn't enough. After its conclusion, he went to Austria for 7 weeks to undertake training with the Waffen SS where he became a Lieutenant.
Törni's unit inflicted such heavy casualties on Russian units that the Soviet Army placed a bounty on his head of 3,000,000 Finnish marks.
In January 1945 he was essentially unemployed but left for saboteur training in Germany to organize resistance in case Finland was occupied by the Soviet Union. Did I mention this dude hated communism? Törni could not secure transportation back to Finland & joined a German unit to fight Soviet troops near Schwerin, Germany. He surrendered to American and British troops in the last stages of World War II and eventually returned to Finland in June 1945.
Dude made his way to South America and stowed away on a Swedish ship heading to the USA. While in the Gulf of Mexico, near Mobile, Alabama, Törni jumped overboard and swam to shore. Now a political refugee.
Törni joined the US army in 1954 where he was taught skiing, survival, mountaineering, and guerrilla tactics. He later received a regular commission and a promotion to captain in 1960. So this dude really still hated communism, so naturally when Vietnam came up he was stoked to fight against some rice-communism.
Deploying to South Vietnam in November 1963 to support South Vietnamese forces in the Vietnam War, Thorne and Special Forces Detachment A-734 were stationed in the Tịnh Biên District and assigned to operate Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) encampments at Châu Lăng and later Tịnh Biên. During a fierce attack on the CIDG camp in Tịnh Biên, he received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star Medal for valor during the battle. This attack would later be described by author Robin Moore in his book The Green Berets.
Thorne's second tour in Vietnam began in February 1965 with 5th Special Forces Group; he then transferred to Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV–SOG), a classified U.S. special operations unit focusing on unconventional warfare in Vietnam, as a military advisor.
On 18 October 1965, he was supervising a clandestine mission during which his Vietnam Air Force CH-34 helicopter crashed in a mountainous area of Phước Sơn District, Quảng Nam Province, Vietnam, 25 miles (40 km) from Da Nang.vRescue teams were unable to locate the crash site. Shortly after his disappearance, Thorne was promoted to the rank of major.
In 1999, Thorne's remains were found by a Finnish and Joint Task Force-Full Accounting team[nb 3] and repatriated to the United States following a Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport ceremony that included Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Ambassador Pete Peterson.
Formally identified in 2003, his remains were buried on 26 June 2003 at Arlington National Cemetery, section 60, tombstone 8136, along with the Vietnam casualties of the mission recovered at the crash site.
Fought under three flags:
And killed a bunch of commies for us in 'Nam. He is on the left:
Buried at Arlington in 2003:
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