I need to give you shout that you missed one of the medals he earned. The first one they sang about, The cross of Mannerheim, it is the most distinguished finnish military honour. Love your reactions :)
It’s the equivalent to receiving the American “Medal of Honor”, and is nothing short of supernaturally difficult to earn. Lauri Allen Torni was something special.
Rank Captain (Finland) SS- Hauptsturmführer (Germany) US- Major (posthumous) Awards Mannerheim Cross Iron Cross 2nd Class Legion of Merit Distinguished Flying Cross Bronze Star Medal Two Purple Hearts Battles/wars World War II Winter War Continuation War Eastern Front Vietnam War - (Two Tours) Operation Shining Brass † Buried - Arlington National Cemetery
This guy is a legend here in Finland. Lauri truly hated communism, can't blame him! 🇫🇮💪🏻 Törni studied at a business school and served the voluntary militia White Guard before getting enlisted in military service in 1938. He joined the 4th Independent Jaeger Infantry Battalion that was stationed at a rural locality in Priozersky District, Leningrad Oblast called Kiviniemi. His enlistment was extended with the onset of the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland that commenced on November 30, 1939, following invasion of the Soviets in Finland. His unit was assigned to fight the invading Soviet troops at the rural locality of Rautu in Priozersky District. Lauri Torni was involved in destructing the encircled Soviet divisions in Lemetti during the Lake Ladoga battles. By the end of the war he was designated to officer training and commissioned the military rank of Vänrikki (2nd lieutenant) in the reserves. In June 1941 following the end of Winter War Törni underwent a seven weeks training with armed wing of the Nazi Party's SS organization the Waffen-SS in Vienna, Austria before returning to Finland in July that year. Törni, an officer of the Finnish Army received paramilitary rank of Untersturmführer of the German Schutzstaffel (SS). His successful efforts during the Continuation War, a conflict fought against the Soviet Union by co-belligerents Finland and Nazi Germany from June 25, 1941 to September 19, 1944 earned him much repute. He led an infantry unit in 1943, named informally as Detachment Törni that succeeded in permeating way beyond enemy lines earning kudos for its efforts. On July 9, 1944, he was bestowed with the most prestigious Finnish military decoration, the Mannerheim Cross. The Battle of Ilomantsi fought between Finland and the Soviet Union from July 26, 1944 to August 13 of that year marking the last Finnish-Soviet combat of the Continuation War saw Törni commanding a reconnaissance company. One of the men serving under his command was the future President of Finland Mauno Koivisto. The Soviet units faced heavy casualties from Törni's unit. Such adversities led the Soviet Army to declare a reward of 3,000,000 Finnish marks on Törni's head. He was inducted by a pro-German resistance movement in Finland in January 1945 following which he went to Germany for saboteur training. Unable to go to Finland, Törni became part of a German unit in fighting the Soviet troops near Schwerin, Germany. The last phase of Second World War saw him surrendering to the US and the UK troops; however he thrived in fleeing a British prisoner of war camp in Lübeck, Germany and returned to Finland in June 1945. The Finnish state police, Valpo, arrested him for joining the German army but he managed to escape. Re-arrested in April 1946, he faced trial for treason and was given six-year prison term in January 1947. In June that year he fled from the Turku provincial prison only to be recaptured and sent to the Riihimäki State Prison. In December 1948, he was granted a pardon by the Finnish President Juho Paasikivi. Törni landed in the US as a political refugee sometime in the 1950s and started working as a cleaner and carpenter. He was granted a residence permit in 1953 via an Act of Congress. In 1954 he joined the US Army under the provisions of the US federal law called the Lodge-Philbin Act. Eventually he became part of the United States Army Special Forces where he learnt guerrilla tactics, skiing, mountaineering and survival skills. He attended the United States Army Airborne School that gives basic paratrooper training to the US armed forces as also the United States Army's Officer Candidate School (OCS). In 1957 he garnered the rank of 1st lieutenant in the United States Army Signal Corps (USASC). He served the 10th Special Forces Group from 1958 to 1962 in the town of Bad Tölz in West Germany and earned repute becoming part of a search and recovery mission in capacity of second in command. In November 1963, he was deployed in South Vietnam to back the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in the ongoing Vietnam War. He again toured Vietnam with the 5th Special Forces Group in February 1965 and was commissioned as a military advisor to Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG). While overseeing a covert operation to track down and destroy Viet Cong turnaround points along Ho Chi Minh trail with airstrikes, the Republic of Vietnam Air Force CH-34 helicopter of Törni crashed in a hilly area of Vietnam’s Phước Sơn District in Quảng Nam Province on October 18, 1965. Although a rescue operation was conducted the crash site could not be located. Following his disappearance, Törni was ranked a Major and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Legion of Merit posthumously. Edit: In 1999, Thorne's remains were found by a Finnish and Joint Task Force-Full Accounting team 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, along with the RVNAF casualties of the mission recovered at the crash site. He was memorialized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Panel 02E, Line 126. He was survived only by his fiancée, Marja Kops.
You gotta give it to him, he really seemed to hate communism. First he fights in the finish army during the Winter war, then goes to Austria and enlists as a Waffen SS officer to fight against the Soviets once more, then after the war goes to the USA to serve in the army there, only to die during a rescue mission in a helicopter in Vietnam.
Lauri: "So, let me get this straight: You ran out of commies for me to kill?" His superior: "Yes." Lauri: "Welp, was nice knowing you guys. Bye." (later) Lauri: "Wait, you guys ran out of commies for me to kill?" His superior: "Yes." Lauri: "Sucks to be you, I'm out." (later) Lauri: "If you guys run out of commies for me to kill, I swear to god!"
Nope. It's not that he hated _an ideology_. That's ridiculous to say, c'mon. He wanted to defend his own country against the USSR, yes. He still wanted to fight against the Soviets/Russians when Finland signed a peace treaty, yes. He went to the States and ended up in the army again, yes. But it's not so much a war on ideology, this is a LEGEND about a man with war and soldierhood in his very nature and blood. Let's not cheapen that. (Finn here.)
In the US, you actually can move across services such as going from the Air Force to the Army, a move which is sometimes called "Blue to Green." There's nothing specifically disallowing it, except you have to deal with a lot of paperwork and possibly additional training. As an NCO I've also had troops who grew up in a foreign country and only recently moved to the US.
Greetings from Finland! Lauri Törni was not only a decorated war hero but he was/is also a hated man, it seems.. An interesting character in any case, and his life story is both unbelievable and fascinating in my opinion.
we remember//Highest rank possible in Finnish army//Among the highest titles in german army//In us got green baret and was special unit commander, aka one of the highest you can climb in america.. we remember.. even if US buried him next to unknown soldiersrs, we remember.. warrior by heart.. in order to illegally join american forces he swam couple kilometers in the freezing ocean.. and TBH, he didn't even properly spoke in any other language than Finnish...we remember..
The song does say "soviet union enemy number 1" because you could say he was a hater of communism or rather maybe just russia/soviet union. As he fought during the finnish winter war during WW2 when the soviet union tried to invade and take finland but horribly failed, he probably started his hatred more there as finland was his homeland. Then he also fought for nazi germany against the soviet union. Then years later after the WW2 he joined the US army to fight against the communist side of the Vietnam war.
Hardest of those decorations is Mannerheim cross (191 ever got 1)...just to let you know. There are books about him and it's also war history in general. I recommend to read at least murican one...it's quite entertaining. 😄
In the U.S., you can certainly transfer between branches of the armed forces. You may not necessarily keep your rank because responsibilities could vary so wildly. But there are programs for transfer, and some even leave a service after their enlistment is done and reenlist elsewhere. I'm sure officers can do similarly.
Did it myself. Served full term in USAF. Went a year as a civilian during the '82 recession and enlisted in US Coast Guard as prior-enlisted as my job specialty in the USAF was full when I tried to re-enlist there.
He is such a legend. With that kind of mental strength he could have done anything, but a war got in the way of and made him a soldier. He turned out to be one of the best at that profession, the list of medals proves it. Despite serving for the third reich, he never was a nazi, he just really hated communism.
I forgot to mention how much I love the song by Sabaton. But getting back to Lauri Törni/Larry Thorne, there are multiple books about him for anyone interested.
Small info splash former Finnish president Mauno Koivist served under Lauri Törni in WW2 and was one of Törnis jaegers whom actually also had boynty on him at Soviet Union.
George Bush Sr. wanted to found him. He organized US/FIN search team to bring him back to US and they actually found him. Bush then visited Finland and received Lauri Törni knife nro 1 for the effords to find him. He actually had tight schedule, but he started to talk to Lauri Törni guild members for an hour after receiving to knife..it was that important to him.
Why he had a bounty on his head? Well because he was such a force of nature that the soviets had to provide a six figure insentive to get their soldiers to actually fight him
He first fougth for the Finish army when the Soviets first invaded, he fought behind the enemy lines wich is why the Soviet hat a bounty on him. After the Soviets won the war his home village was in their control, he and other Finish volunteers went to fight for the Germans against the Soviets, when Finland went to war with Finland to reclaim their land he went back to Finland when they lost again he went back to Germany and when the lost he fleet to America because he couldn't return to Finland. The reason for that is (if I remember correctly) the Soviets in the peace agreement said that Finland had to hand over every soldier who volunteered to fight with the German's. In the US he took a new name and fought in Vietnam where he died.
words of encouragement. ironmouse spent 3 years at 50 subs before hitting it big. 2017-2020 gotta stay motivated and keep up the content! you drew me in and even now I'm like wtf 80k?.......OK, i like him! (by the way mouse is top six on twitch) now i will binge all of the 50 sabaton videos you have made. ps: (your reaction to mori brought me here)
heh, not impossible to switch, just loaaads of paperwork, army and navy even swap couple cadetts between anapolis and west point for a term to promote cooperation. EDIT online friend that was instructor (confirmed by multiple sources) told me it was bitter sweet as he "lost" good cadet for a time /EDIT
1939-1940 he fought the soviets within the Finnish army 1941-1945 he fought the soviets again during the continuation war (Finland sided with Germany to fight the Russians) 1960s he fought in Vietnam alongside the Americans as a green beret. If the timeline is off please correct me