THE WALL OF FACES

Rest in peace with the warriors.

If I should die, and leave you here awhile, be not like others, sore undone, who keep long vigils by the silent dust, and weep...fo MY sake, turn again to life, and smile...Nerving thy heart, and trembling hand to do something to comfort other hearts than thine...Complete these dear, unfinished tasks of mine...and I, perchance, may therein comfort you.

MAJOR

LARRY ALAN THORNE


HEADQUARTERS COMPANY

MILITARY ASSISTANCE COMMAND, VIETNAM

SPECIAL DETACHMENT 5891


Remains Found In 1999

Identified in 2003

Buried in Arlington National Cemetery

on 26 June 2003


LARRY ALAN THORNE was born LAURI ALLAN TORNI in Finland on 28 May 1919.

As an adult in Finland, he joined the Finnish Army where he attained the rank of Captain.

His valor earned him the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Mannerheim Cross.

He was so successful as a ski troop commander that the unit patch carried his initial " T " with a lightning bolt through it.

At the end of the Winter War, Torni joined the German " SS " to fight the Russians.

When the Continuation War began, he returned to Finland and again commanded his ski troops.

Following Finland's second defeat to the Russians, Torni was imprisoned by the communists as a war criminal.

He escaped prison three times and made his way to the United States where he enlisted in the United States Army as a private.

Throughout the late 1950's, the budding United States Army Special Forces had been building a controversial force to conduct unconventional warfare.

These unconventional warfare warriors had to be able to master critical military skills needed to train and lead guerrilla warriors, to be inserted anywhere in the world by any means of transportaion, to survive the most hostile environment, and to take care of themselves and others under the pressures of harsh combat conditions and isolation.

At the same time, these individuals had to be independent thinkers, able to grasp opportunities and innovate with the materials at hand.

In order to control and lead irregular fighters, they had to understand people, languages, and foreign cultures.

Most important, the Special Forces warriors had to posses the intelligence, knowledge, tact, and acumen to successfully transform ordinary civilians into an effective military threat to a strong and cunning occupation army.

In addition to recruiting rugged individuals possessing these attributes from regular army formations, the Special Forces attracted a proven lot of hardy, versatile volunteers from Finland and other European countries through the Lodge Act, Public Law 957 of the 81st Congress, sponsored by Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

Regardless of his background, each Special Forces volunteer underwent strenuous physical conditioning, including paratrooper training, and was extensively tested to determine his best skills and abilities.

He then received comprehensive instruction in his specialty area.

Thorne was selected for the Special Forces and ultimately led an important mountain rescue mission to a crashed United States Air Force plane in the middle east.

The plane was carrying classified equipment and three earlier attempts to reach it had failed.

Next, he went to Vietnam, where he and his 7th Special Forces A-734 established the camp at Tinh Bien in April 1964 near the Delta's Seven Mountains area, which bushwacked so many Viet Cong that it becamse a serious thorn to the VC lifeline into Cambodia.

In a second tour of Vietnam, attached to Headquarters Company, MACV, Special Detachment 5891, the Vietnamese Air Force CH34 helicopter on which Thorne was a passenger crashed about 25 miles southwest of Da Nang.

When rescue workers went to the site, they recovered the remains of the Vietnamese crew, but found no sign of Larry Thorne.

He had simply disappeared.

Thorne's photo is maintained in a pre-capture photo group shown to defectors for POW / MIA identifications purposes, yet Thorne was classified Killed In Action the day after the crash.

His remains were never found.

Men who served with him believe that Larry is still alive.

They gather to toast his health every year.

No one, they say, is better equipped to survive than Larry Thorne.

In Finland, Lauri Torni is a national hero.

In the United States, Larry Thorne is forgotten by all but a few.

His family believes he is still alive, even considering he would be 84 years old this year (2003).

Lauri Torni hated the threat of communism so much that he was willing to join any army to fight it.

We must never forget men like Thorne.

It is to them that we owe our freedom. We also owe them theirs.



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UPDATE 1998


In June of 1998, the book ' THE SOLDIER UNDER THREE FLAGS '

was made available by PATHFINDER PUBLISHING.

The author, H.A. Gill, III is a graduate of the Citadel.

He served as an infantry offcier in the U.S. Army and

currently works for an aerospace corporation.

The book about Larry Thorne has 208 pages and 37 photographs,

and is available for $ 14.95.

ISBN : 0-934793-65-4

PATHFINDER PUBLISHING
1-800-977-2282
458 Dorothy Avenue
Ventura
California 93003



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Subject: Major Larry Alan Thorne - Deceased - 18 October 1965

In a message dated 6/6/03 4:02:23 PM Central Daylight Time

[email protected] writes:


Gentlemen: GREAT NEWS ...

FINALLY after 37+ years - CLOSURE.

The United States Government has finally closed the case on Larry Alan Thorne.

Needless to say - it has been a long struggle for the past few years.

Larry will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery on 26 June 2003, reportedly scheduled for 0900 hours commencing at the ANC Administration Building.

Tentatively plans for a memorial service are also scheduled for the evening of 25 June.

Time and Location as yet to be determined.

As many of you are aware Larry was lost in the clouds on 18 October 1965 on a CH-34 " KINGBEE " helicopter from the 219th Vietnamese Air Force Squadron while performing a C & C mission out of Kham Duc for the very first OP-35 cross-border reconnaissance mission ( RT Iowa ) being conducted by Charles "Slats" Petry, Willie Card and four "little people" and never seen again.

"Slats" and his RT were able to infiltrate the AO via another " KINGBEE ", but, almost immediately following insertion the weather turned bad.

John Voter was in another " KINGBEE ", acting as " Chase ".

Due to the same miserable bad weather in the area that Larry got caught up in, John was forced to land at an emergency site and fortunately was able to return to Kham Duc the next day.

"Slats" and his RT conducted a successful mission and returned to Kham Duc at a later date.

In 1999 a US/VN JTF/FA conducted an excavation of a CH-34 " KINGBEE " crash site and recovered several fragments of bones, miscellaneous equipment and a Swedish "K" SMG.

Based on that limited evidence coupled with a series of forensic and DNA tests, it has taken the USG till now to arrive at a conclusive decision that this was in fact Larry's ill-fated aircraft.

Juha Rajala, Larry's nephew has scheduled a Press Release for 10 June in Finland announcing the decision by the USG as it relates to Larry.

However, a close family friend, Ilkka Nieminen has secured permission from Juha for an early release of this information in order to permit Larry's American friends sufficient time to coordinate travel and accommodation arrangements in the event they desire to attend the Memorial Service (25 Jun) and Interment (26 Jun) at Arlington National Cemetery.

A number of Finnish dignitaries including Juha ( representing the Thorne family ) will be in attendance at both services.

If anyone plans on attending - request you advise me and I will be pleased to pass it on to the family.

I will also secure a name and address in Finland for anyone desiring to dispatch a card to Juha and / or Salme, the last surviving sister of Larry.

That is it for now.

Does anyone know how to get in touch with John Voter ?

Advise.

Regards,

Clyde J. Sincere, Jr.
11722 Lariat Lane
Oakton
Virginia 22124-2323

(703) 620-0953

[email protected]



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http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20030617IE9

Legendary Finnish war hero Lauri T”rni (Larry Alan Thorne) to receive final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery

Remains of victims of 1965 helicopter crash will be interred simultaneously


The last picture of Larry Alan Thorne was taken three days before he disappeared.

The Finnish-American war hero is on the left in the picture with some American and South Vietnamese brothers in arms.


Foreign - Tuesday 17 June 2003

By Asko Temmes


Lauri T”rni (1919-1965) was a World War II hero and a recipient of the Mannerheim Cross - the highest award for gallantry in the field - in his native Finland.

After the end of hostilities, the fiercely anti-Communist T”rni found life at home difficult, and he emigrated to the United States.

There he entered the U.S. military and became a decorated and much-revered Vietnam War hero in the United States Army Special Forces.

T”rni, by now better known to his colleagues as Larry Thorne, disappeared after the helicopter he was in went down close to the Laos border in 1965.

At long last, his remains have been formally identified, and he will be laid to rest in the Arlington National Cemetery on June 26 of this year.

T”rni's remains will be buried in the same coffin with those of three other victims of the same helicopter crash.

When the crash site was finally located four years ago, the U.S. military made inquiries concerning T”rni's final resting place.

In Finland, hopes were raised for the national hero's possible burial in his home country.

Separating the remains of the crash victims, however, turned out to be an impossible task, which led to a pragmatic decision to organise a joint burial at Arlington.

" A traditional American military officer's burial is to be expected, with trumpets and salutes ", says T”rni's nephew Juha Rajala, who is also the Vice President of the Lauri T”rni Tradition Guild in Finland.

The Tradition Guild will send representatives to the funeral, and the Finnish Defence Forces will decide on their participation next week.

It is likely that the representation from the United States Army will be at the level of a General.

T”rni still enjoys an awesome reputation amongst military men even today, nearly 40 years after his demise.

The Arlington National Cemetery is in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from the nation's capital, Washington D.C.

Arlington National Cemetery contains about 270,000 graves, most of them belonging to individuals who served in the U.S. armed forces.

Arlington's most famous grave, accompanied by an eternal flame, is that of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

The day before the interment, a memorial service will be arranged.

Larry Alan Thorne, the name by which T”rni is remembered in the United States, was a captain and a Green Beret in the United States Army Special Forces.

Special Forces will also organise a tribute to their hero.

After T”rni's status was changed from " Missing In Action" to " presumably Killed In Action ", a memorial service was already organised in Helsinki back in 1967.

Excavation at the crash site in Vietnam was launched four years ago.

The helicopter crashed on a mountain-top in a severe thunderstorm.

Three South Vietnamese soldiers had accompanied T”rni on the ill-fated helicopter flight, returning from a secret mission, probably in Laos.

Two of the South Vietnamese lieutenants were identified from DNA samples.

The third soldier, a machine-gunner, was recognised from his identification tag.

T”rni's fate was finally confirmed, not by a DNA sample, but from his dental records.

T”rni had a dental crown on his tooth number 18.

Even before the medical confirmation, two pieces of evidence pointed strongly to the final outcome: the serial number found on the helicopter's rotor blade and the Swedish-made machine pistol that T”rni had taken with him, which was found nearby.

The Lauri T”rni Tradition Guild has planned a trip to Vietnam, to the site of their hero's death.

Thirty of the Finnish Army infantrymen who accompanied T”rni on numerous dangerous missions in World War II are still alive, among them Finland's former President Mauno Koivisto.

Next year Lauri T”rni would have celebrated his 85th birthday.


More on this subject:


Legendary Finnish war hero Lauri T”rni (Larry Thorne) to get final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery

War hero's unbelievable life in the service of two countries


Previously in HS International Edition:


DNA testing to resolve the fate of Larry Thorne

( 14 September 1999 )


T”rni was not the only Finnish soldier to serve under more than one flag, as this article indicates: Finnish officer becomes legend in United States Army

( 3 October 2000 )

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

Mary Frye – 1932

"An God said who shall we send.I answered I am here,send me."

Isaiah 6:8

Repos Dans La Paix