“Born a Soldier: The Times and Life of Larry Thorne” by J. Michael Cleverley

Again, this is a book I read and reviewed on Amazon some years ago when it saw its first US publication. “Born A Soldier” is a truly enthralling biography of an outstanding Finnish-born special forces soldier who served in both the Finnish and German Armies in WW2 and who subsequently immigrated to the USA, joined the US Army, became a Special Forces soldier (Green Berets) and died in action in Vietnam in 1965.

The subject of this book, Lauri Allan Törni (Larry Allan Thorne) was a superb soldier whose name crops up in many of the books on the Russo-Finnish Winter War and the subsequent Continuation War (as WW2 is known in Finland). Written up semi-fictionally by Robin Moore in his book, “The Green Beret’s” as Sven Kornie, the main character in the story related in Chapter One of Moore’s book, he was the guy that John Wayne plays in that classic early-Vietnam War movie, “The Green Berets.”

To give you an idea of what sort of a man Larry Thorne was before I go any further with this review, ponder on this. Forty odd years after his death, he has been the subject of two English language biographies (this book and it’s earlier printing, and H N Gills “Soldier Under Three Flags”) as well as a number of Finnish-language biographies, some of which I list below. This is in all likelihood more english-language biographies of any Finnish soldier other than Marshal Mannerheim himself.

A US Special Forces building is named after him. He was played by John Wayne in the movie “The Green Berets.” He has been credited as the inspiration for a graduating class of officers from the Finnish Military Academy a number of years ago and Cleverley’s biography in Finnish (“Lauri Törni – Syntynyt Sotilaaksi”) was a best-seller in Finland. A former President of Finland (Mauno Koivisto) was a member of his unit in the WW2 Finnish Army. He was awarded every Finnish medal of valor including the Mannerheim Cross (the equivalent of the US Congressional Medal of Honor or the British Victoria Cross, as well as the WW2 German Iron Cross, the US Bronze Star and 5 Purple Hearts).

So now that your interest is aroused (if you’ve read this far, it must be) a brief synopsis of Larry Thorne’s life is in order, followed by a review of this particular book.

Lauri Torni was born in 1919 in Viipuri (a part of Finland occupied by Russia since the end of WW2), joined the Finnish army in 1938 and served as a patrol NCO during the Winter War (1939-1940), a prelude to WW2 where the Soviet Union launched an invasion of Finland. He was promoted 2/LT (9 May 1940). After the Winter War ended, he went to Germany and Austria for training, where he was among the early members of what became the Finnisches Freiwilligen SS-Bataillon “Nordost” – Torni became an SS Untersturmführer (2/LT; 8 May 1941). At the end of July 1941, Torni was back in the Finnish Army for the Continuation War (1941-1944) where Finland again fought the Soviet Union.

As a leader of small units operating behind soviet lines he was by all accounts a truly inspiring leader who made a significant contribution to Finland’s war effort – significant enough that as commander of Detachment Törni, the Russians put a price of 3,000,000 markka on his head. Among his jääkärit in this “Lightning Bolt” unit, was Mauno Koivisto, future President of Finland (interestingly enough, Koivisto, in his own biography, is rather critical of Törni – he felt that Törni’s “daring and soldierly behavior sometimes confused his own men and put their lives at risk”). Torni was awarded the Mannerheim Cross (9 Jul 1944), the equivalent of the US Medal of Honor / British Victoria Cross, and was promoted to Captain (28 Aug 1944).

After Finland, under Marshal Mannerheim, made a separate peace with the Soviets, Torni by some accounts (but not others, as Cleverley discusses in his book) traveled to Germany, rejoined the Waffen SS, and fought on the Eastern Front as an SS Hauptsturmführer (CPT; 15 Apr 1945), leading a detachment of German Marines who fought thru to the war’s end (and after, as they had to fight their way thru the Russians to reach American Lines and surrender). Torni was interned but escaped to Finland where he was indicted and sentenced to 6-years as an “enemy of the state” (for fighting with the Germans after Finland changed sides and signed an armistice with the Allies). By then, the Finnish government was “pro-“, if not actually, Communist. By the end of the War, Torni had been awarded every Finnish medal of valor including the Mannerheim Cross. While fighting with the Germans, Torni was awarded the Iron Cross.

Pardoned in 1948 (but stripped of his Finnish Army rank in 1950), Torni fled to Sweden and then onward to end up in New York by 1951. Befriended by other Finnish officers who had left Finland to join the post-WW2 US Army (and by “Wild Bill” Donovan, OSS head in WW2), the 1951 Lodge Act enabled Torni to enlist in the U.S. Army – as PVT Larry A. Thorne (28 Jan 1954).He became an NCO Instructor in winter warfare and special operations; was promoted to 1/LT (9 Jan 1957) and CPT (30 Nov 1960); and commanded Special Forces A-Teams in operations. Torni served two tours in Vietnam (1963-1965), first as an A-Team commander; and then as a staff officer on a B-Team (part of the MACV-SOG “Studies and Observation Group”, in charge of clandestine ops in Laos and Cambodia).

He disappeared just over the Laotian border (18 Oct 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 with all on board lost. Torne (recipient of the Bronze Star and 5 Purple Hearts) was promoted after death to MAJ (16 Dec 1965). His remains were recovered by a joint American-Finnish effort in July 1999; positively identified in 2003; and buried with the remains of his South Vietnamese air crew at Arlington Cemetery (26 Jun 2003).

And now on to a review of this book. First – the author. Mike Cleverley himself is well-suited as an author of this outstanding book. During a career with the US State Department, he was with the US Embassy in Helsinki for a number of years, his wife is Finnish, he speaks and reads Finnish and of course a great deal of his source material was straight from the Finnish and from men who served and fought with Lauri Torni / Larry Thorne. The book itself contains a substantial bibliography of source material, much of which is in Finnish.

This book was first published in English in 2003 under the title “A Scent of Glory: The Times and Life of Larry A Thorne” – this was published in English in Greece and had very limited availability to the North America market. It was simultaneously published in Finnish (title “Lauri Törni – Syntynyt Sotilaaksi”) and at the time was a bestseller in Finland. For this 2008 edition, Cleverley has substantially updated the book using US Army information which has only recently become available. Having read both versions plus the 2003 Finnish-language edition, I personally very much enjoyed the updated edition with the additional information and commentary.

Overall, it’s an outstanding biography, detailed, thorough, very well written, highly readable and with a good collection of photo’s included. The cover art for this edition is also well done – a great photo of Larry Thorne during his time with the US Army Special Forces. Unlike the other available English-language biography by H N Gill (Soldier Under Three Flags), which barely touches on Torni’s career in the Finnish Army, Cleverley covers Torni’s service in the Finnish Army in considerable detail as well as covering his time with the US Army and in Special Forces and in Vietnam in substantial and very interesting detail.

What’s particularly interesting to me is the description of Detachment Torni in operations with the Finnish Army. Although Cleverley doesn’t analyze this aspect from a military perspective, you can read the detailed accounts of Detachment Torni in action and see many precursors to later special operations units – the emphasis on extreme fitness, rapid tactical movement, aggressiveness in action, firepower, thorough and detailed preparation for ops, a very high standard of combat discipline, etc etc. Quite fascinating and just one facet of a particularly well-written biography. In summary, if you’re interested in reading about Lauri Torni / Larry Thorne, this is by far the best biography of the man that’s available and well worth buying and reading. You can also read Mike Cleverley’s comments on his book at Mike’s website.

For those interested in further reading on Larry Thorne / Lauri Törni, Cleverley includes an extensive bibliography. Many of the books referenced are only available in Finnish – but for additional English language material, try the following:

• Soldier Under Three Flags by H A Gill (published in the late 1990’s, this is nowhere near as good as Cleverley’s book)

• The Green Berets by Robin Moore 1965 / USA / New revised version 1999 / ISBN-13: 978-0312984922 (Torni is written up as Sven Kornie, the first chapter in the book. Cleverley’s biography covers this episode in some detail and the fictional account is apparently pretty close to the reality)

• SOG-the secret wars of America’s commandos in Vietnam by John L. Plaster 1997 / USA / ISBN 0-684-81105-7

• SOG-A photo history of the secret wars by John L. Plaster 2000 / USA / ISBN 1-58160-058-5

• U.S. Army SF in Southeast Asia 1956-1975, The Green Berets at War by Shelby L. Staton 1985 / USA / ISBN 0-8041-1884-1

If you want to try Finnish (and good luck…), I’d recommend the following to start with: and get some good Finnish-English translation software and a really good Finnish-English dictionary (a pocket dictionary won’t cut it, believe me…)

• Legenda: Lauri Torni by Kari Kallonen, Petri Sarjanen (Language=Finnish, 397 pages, published Jan 2004, ISBN-10: 9525170381, ISBN-13: 9789525170382)

• Lauri Törni ja hänen korpraalinsa by Antti Lindholm-Ventola 1988 / Finland / ISBN 951-9429-42-5 (“Lauri Torni and his Corporal”)

• Törnin Jääkärit by Lars Rönnqvist, Anssi Vuorenmaa 1993 / Finland / ISBN 951-0-19056-x ((“Torni’s Jaegers” (translates literally from Finnish as “Light infantrymen”, which is what the Jaeger units in the Finnish Army were). Rönnqvist was Torni’s commanding officer for much of his time in the Finnish Army in WW2.

• Sotasankarit (21 Finnish Wartime Heroes), Robert Brantberg, Revontuli Publishing Company 2000, 320 pages, ISBN 952-5170-11-X

Note: You usually won’t find these books on Amazon but I ordered some of the above from a Finnish online book shop called www.Bookplus.fi – they have english-language pages for ordering which is a bonus. And they were delivered from Helsinki to Canada far faster than books from Amazon.com in the US take to get to Canada. “Legenda” includes a great collection of photo’s and it’s printed on the most amazing glossy paper. Haven’t seen a book with this quality printing for years outside of coffee table.

And a last personal note. It’s men like Lauri Torni that fought and died in the hard fight against totalitarianism in WW2 and the Cold War. They deserve to be remembered for what they did, their dedication and their commitment.

“They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.
We will remember them.”

Just as an aside, below is song by Finland’s top Bluegrass Band (Jussi Syren and the Groundbreakers) which is a pretty good tribute to the guy. There’s a few more clips about him on Youtube including a video of his funeral in 2003 and other bits and pieces. If you’re interested in the man, these two clips are included below (although not related to the book being reviewed) and are worth a look.

 

Jussi Syren & the Groundbreakers – The Legend of Larry Thorne

Newsclip – The Recovery of Larry Thorne’s remains by a joint Finnish-US Recovery Team

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