ϟϟ-Hauptsturmführer der Waffen-SS Törni, former Captain in Finnish Army; later Major Thorne in U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets)

Three oaths of allegiance – Lauri Törni also known as Larry A. Thorne

SS-Hauptsturmführer Lauri Allan Törni fought the Communists under three flags: The Blue Cross Flag (Finland), the Swastika (German Reich) and the Stars and Stripes (USA). Törni was born on May 28 1919 in Swedish-founded Viborg in Finland, now Russian Vyborg. When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in 1939, he took part in the annihilation of the encircled Russian divisions in Lemetti. In 1941 after the Winter War, Second Lieutenant Törni volunteered for the Waffen-SS in order to continue fighting the Soviets and served as an SS-Untersturmführer in the Finnish SS-Freiwilligen Bataillon Nordost. During the Continuation War (1941-44) Törni's elite unit penetrated deep behind Soviet lines for extended periods of time and enjoyed a reputation for its combat effectiveness. The Soviet Red Army placed a bounty on his head (3 million Finnish Marks, equivalent to 470.000 €). One of Törni's men was future President of Finland, Mauno Koivisto. Törni was awarded every Finnish medal of valor for bravery including the Mannerheim Cross, the highest Finnish military decoration. Captain Törni was dissatisfied with the terms of the unfavorable treaty called the Moscow Armistice signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side in September 1944. In January 1945, Törni returned to the German Reich for saboteur training with Sonderkommando Nord of the German Abwehr as part of the Werwolf program and to organize resistance in case Finland was occupied by the Soviets. On April 15 1945, Törni was promoted the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer. He reported to the headquarters of SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner, who issued him a military passport and command of a German unit formed of former naval personnel. Shortly afterwards, contact was made with advancing Soviet troops north-west of Berlin. Törni's fellow countryman SS-Untersturmführer Juhani Sarasalo got separated from the group in the confusion that followed and taken POW. He later described how he watched as a Russian officer demanded that an SS-Unterscharführer tear off his SS collar patch. The man refused, and he along with 20 other German soldiers were pulled aside and machine-gunned by the Soviets. Törni's ragtag unit ended up fighting their way through Soviet lines in early May 1945 and surrendered themselves to American paratroopers who turned him over to the British. He escaped the British POW camp but was arrested upon his return to Finland, and sentenced to 6 years in prison for treason and for having joined the German armed forces. In 1949 Törni managed to escape to Stockholm with the help of a prison guard. In Sweden he found protection and shelter with the Baroness von Essen, who harbored many fugitive Finnish officers following World War II. From Sweden he travelled disguised under an alias as a Swedish seaman aboard SS Bolivia, on destination Caracas, Venezuela. From Venezuela Törni was hired to a Swedish cargo ship MS Skagen, on destination United States. While in the Gulf of Mexico, near Mobile, Alabama, Törni jumped overboard and swam to shore. Törni was granted residence permit in the U.S. through an Act of Congress. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1954 and adopted the name Larry Alan Thorne. Private Thorne was soon selected for the Special Forces program where he quickly rose through the ranks. From 1958 to 1962 he served in 10th Special Forces Group in West Germany. While there he was second in command of a search and rescue mission in the Zagros mountains of Iran, gaining him a notable reputation in Special Forces. In 1963 Törni aka Thorne joined the Special Forces unit A734 in Vietnam and fought in the Mekong Delta. In 1965, he was transferred to MACV-SOG in Vietnam as a military advisor. MACV-SOG was a joint service unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. On October 18 1965, Captain Thorne's helicopter crashed in a mountainous area of Laos. His posthumous promotion to Major was approved in December 1965. Major Larry Alan Thorne's remains were found in 1999 and formally identified in 2003. He was buried with full American and Vietnamese honors at Arlington National Cemetery, section 60, tombstone 8136, on June 26 2003. His U.S. memorial is the Larry Thorne Headquarters Building, 10th SFG(A), Fort Carson, Colorado. Units: the 4th Independent Jäger Infantry Battalion (Finnish Army), the SS-Freiwilligen Bataillon Nordost (Waffen-SS) and the 5th Special Forces Group Airborne (U.S. Army Special Forces). Awards among others: Mannerheim Cross of Liberty, Iron Cross Second Class, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Purple Heart (twice), Distinguished Flying Cross, Presidential Unit Citation and the Army Commendation Medal. Credit: Born a Soldier and A Soldier Under Three Flags: The Exploits of Special Forces' Captain Larry A. Thorne.