Larry Thorne

[parkerdog9]

For those who don't know Larry Thorne's story, google him, he was a very interesting soldier. He turned me on to the M39 when we were in Viet-Nam in 67. His first hand stories of the winter and continuation wars wre spellbinding. He considered the M39 one of the best rifles ever fabricated.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Too bad he never wrote down any of the stories, they would have made for fascinating reading. He was right about the M39, the Finns took a collection of used, antique parts, added a new stock and barrel, and turned it into a rifle that could hold it's own against the US M1903, 1-2 MOA at 100 yards or even better is not unheard of with an out of the box M39.

[parkerdog9]

That would have been great he was an amazing soldier, unfortanatly he went MIA in Laos I think in 68.

[Three_Dogs]

Yes, too bad he never wrote any of it down, lot of untold stories that would have made awesome reads and filled in many gaps!

[Junk Yard Dog]

Not MIA any more, his remains were located in 1999, and positively identified in 2003, he is buried in Arlington National Cemetary.

[desdem12]

[zeebill]

I don't know whether his stories were ever meant to be repeated as many of the things he did were and are still classified as Top Secret. Little is really known about some of his work and most is just hearsay which has been repeated many times over and now become real in many peoples minds. I would imagine he lived a life that will never be repeated factually nor appreicated for what he accomplished. With the little I know looking back on what he did some of things look today like they may have been the wrong move but he did as he was ordered to do and that indeed may be why he is not with us today. Bill

[Junk Yard Dog]

I was talking about his winter war stories, the ones from Vietnam are also ancient history now, lots of Spec Op's vets have written books telling all sorts of shit.

[Bugelson]

I was talking about his winter war stories, the ones from Vietnam are also ancient history now, lots of Spec Op's vets have written books telling all sorts of shit.

Well, allthough this was just an april fool joke thread I should point out that there is somewhat readable biography about Lauri Törni. But as far as I know it's only available in Finnish, which obviously won't be much of use for you guys.

[bunkysdad]

Another reason I don't like April fools jokes- now I don't know what to think.

[Fishin Finn]

The story of Larry Thorne (Lauri Törni) is remarkable. I first heard of him from my cousin who I was visiting in Finland for the first time in 43 years. He told me some of the story, and it was amazing. Thorne was an enlisted man in the Army when the Winter War broke out and fought; went to train with the German Waffen SS after the armistice; fought again in the Continuation War as an officer leading raids into the Soviet Union. After the preliminary truce, he joined the German SS, as an officer, and continued fighting the Soviets. Fought his way out of Soviet territory to surrender to the British, and was interred, but escaped back to Finland. He joined an operation in caching weapons throughout Finland, to enable battling the Soviets should they occupy Finland. The Secret Police (ValPo) which was heavily influenced by the Soviets caught him, and he was sentenced to prison, but was pardoned in 1948. He snuck out of Finland to Sweden and ultimately to the US, where he joined a group of Finnish military veterans, who began to transform the US military special forces, after legislation was passed to legalize them. Ultimately, many of them fought in Korea and Viet Nam.

There are two books in the English language, as follows:
Cleverley, J. Michael: Born a Soldier, The Times and Life of Larry Thorne, October 2008, ISBN 978-1-4392-1437-4.

Gill III, H. A.: The Soldier Under Three Flags, June 1998, Pathfinder publishing. ISBN 0-934793-65-4.

Finnish books can be found in Wiki.

[bunkysdad]

I wonder if Larry Thorne ever crossed paths with a even more well-known soldier? A US GI by the name of Kilroy.

[Junk Yard Dog]

I was talking about his winter war stories, the ones from Vietnam are also ancient history now, lots of Spec Op's vets have written books telling all sorts of shit.

Well, although this was just an April fool joke thread I should point out that there is somewhat readable biography about Lauri Törni. But as far as I know it's only available in Finnish, which obviously won't be much of use for you guys.

No, of course not, this was posted on 31 March , not 1 April, on 1 April jokes are allowable, and other day and the perp gets hung, drawn and quartered In this case the name is known, and Wiki is unlikely to participate in April fools jokes.

[Bugelson]

No, of course not, this was posted on 31 March , not 1 April, on 1 April jokes are allowable, and other day and the perp gets hung, drawn and quartered In this case the name is known, and Wiki is unlikely to participate in April fools jokes.

Well

He turned me on to the M39 when we were in Viet-Nam in 67.

I consider this to be April fool´s joke. Not a bad one though, I should add.

There are two books in the English language, as follows:
Cleverley, J. Michael: Born a Soldier, The Times and Life of Larry Thorne, October 2008, ISBN 978-1-4392-1437-4.

Gill III, H. A.: The Soldier Under Three Flags, June 1998, Pathfinder publishing. ISBN 0-934793-65-4.

Finnish books can be found in Wiki.

I completely forgot those. The Cleverley´s book should be very good read. Sadly I haven´t read it myself.

[Fishin Finn]

Recently finished reading the Cleverley book, Born a Soldier, The Times and Life of Larry Thorne, and it was excellent. I would highly recommend it. It is well documented, with source information, maps of various operations, a chronology, among other appendices. It almost seems like time travel, beginning in the woods of rural Finland when Thorne was born in 1919, then to the Winter and Continuation Wars, and Germany; then onto the US Army Special Forces and to Europe, Iran, and finally a couple tours in Viet Nam, and the downing of his helicopter near Laos in 1965 resulting in his death.

[Junk Yard Dog]

I will add it to the list of books to eye out for, that list grows daily

[Junk Yard Dog]

On the subject of a M39 in Vietnam, it's unlikely, but not impossible. I read years ago about some SA marked, but otherwise unidentified Mosins turning up in the hands of the Viet Cong. The VC received Russian aid as well as Chinese, the Russians gave them the typical package of refurbished ww2 Mosins of the same kind we now import into the US. Among these refurbs have been SA marked 91/30's that were captured from the Soviets by Finland and then captured back again by the Soviets and refurbished. It is possible that some of these rifles ended up in Vietnam, or Korea.