page_title: List of Finnish Americans
section_title: Military personnel
hierarchical_section_title: List of Finnish Americans / List / Military personnel
caption_attribution_description: English: portrait astronaut Timothy L. Kopra Polski: astronauta Timothy L. Kopra
context_page_description: The following is a list of Finnish Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants.
  To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Finnish American or must have references showing they are Finnish American and are notable.
context_section_description: Johannes Anderson (1887–1950), Finnish-born U.S. Army soldier during World War I; Medal of Honor recipient
  Reino Hayhanen (born 1920), U.S. spy; Soviet Lt. Colonel who defected to the U.S. during the Cold War; helped break open the Hollow Nickel Case which led to the capture of top Soviet spies in the U.S. looking for atomic secrets
  Timothy L. Kopra (born 1963), astronaut; flew missions on the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Discovery; U.S. Army Colonel; Desert Storm veteran; Bronze Star recipient; West Point graduate
  Amelia Presley, (born 1989), U.S. Coast Guard enlisted Machinery Technician; raised in the small Finnish community of Franklin Creek, Mississippi.  Presley’s paternal great grandmother came to the area from Michigan with her mother and father, Anders Thomasson Kennakkala (changed to Andrew Thompson), along with other Finnish immigrant families in the 1900s.  Amelia Presley celebrates her Finnish heritage with the community via a yearly “Silver Tea” held around Christmas time at the Finnish Lutheran Church in Kreole, MS. 
  Lauri Törni (1919–1965), Finnish Army Captain who led an infantry company in Finnish Winter and Continuation Wars; moved to the United States after World War II and adopted the name Larry Thorne; served with the U.S. Army Special Forces in Vietnam War; killed in Laos while on a clandestine mission
  Dale Eugene Wayrynen (1947–1967), U.S. Army enlisted soldier; recipient of the Medal of Honor, America's highest military decoration, for his actions in the Vietnam War
caption: Timothy L. Kopra
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