page_title: Lauri Törni
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Lauri Törni / Career / World War II
caption_attribution_description: Suomi: Lauri Törni
context_page_description: Lauri Allan Törni, later known as Larry Thorne, was a Finnish Army captain. He led an infantry company in the Finnish Winter and Continuation Wars. After the wars, he moved to the United States. He then joined the American Army. He is known as the soldier who fought under three flags: Finnish, German, and American when he served in U.S. Army Special Forces in the Vietnam War.
context_section_description: During the Winter War, he fought battles at Lake Ladoga. His courage was noticed by his commanders. At the end of the war, he received officer training. Then he was commissioned a Vänrikki (2nd lieutenant) in the reserves. After the Winter War, in June 1941, Törni went to Vienna, Austria. In Vienna, he received 7 weeks of training with the Waffen SS. Then he returned to Finland in July. Because he was a Finnish officer, he was recognized as a German Untersturmfuhrer.
  Törni is famous because of his courage in the Continuation War (1941–44) between the Soviet Union and Finland. In 1943 he was the leader of Detachment Törni. His infantry unit went behind enemy lines to attack the Russians. One of Törni's men was future President of Finland, Mauno Koivisto. The two served together during the Battle of Ilomantsi. This was the last Finnish-Soviet battle of the Continuation War.
  Törni's unit caused many casualties on the Russian units. The Soviet Army placed a reward of 3 million Finnish Marks, equivalent to 650,000 USD, to anyone who captured Törni. Because of his courage, Törni was decorated with the Mannerheim Cross on 9 July 1944.
  Törni was not happy when Finland made peace with the Soviets. The peace agreement required Finland to take up arms against Germany in the Lapland War. He left the Finnish Army. In 1945, he was recruited by a pro-German resistance movement in Finland. He traveled to Germany for saboteur training. He wanted to organize resistance in case Finland was occupied by the Soviet Union. He surrendered to British troops in Germany at the end of World War II. Then he returned to Finland in June 1945.
  After he returned to Finland, he was arrested by ValPo, the Finnish national security agency. There was a trial for treason in 1946 because he had joined the German army. After the trial he received a 6 year sentence in January 1947. He went to prison in Turku, but he escaped in June. He was recaptured and went to a different prison. In December 1948, Finnish President Juho Paasikivi gave him a pardon.
caption: Törni as SS- Second Lieutenant
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