This documentary examines the extraordinary life of Lauri Törni, the Finnish soldier who fought under three different flags during a military career spanning the Winter War, the Second World War and the Vietnam War. Known later in the United States as Larry Thorne, his journey took him from the forests of Finland to the Waffen-SS and eventually to the U.S. Army Special Forces. Törni first saw combat after the Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939. During the Winter War and the later Continuation War, he developed a reputation as an effective and determined soldier. In 1943, the Finnish military created a specialist infantry detachment under his command. Its operations behind Soviet lines proved so effective that the Soviet Army placed a bounty of three million Finnish marks on his head. In July 1944, Törni received the Mannerheim Cross, Finland’s highest military decoration. His wartime record was also politically complicated. Törni received Waffen-SS training in 1941 and returned to German service during the final months of the war. Back in Finland, he was later convicted of treason before receiving a presidential pardon in 1948. After leaving Europe, he reached the United States and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1954 under the name Larry Thorne. He subsequently joined the Special Forces and served in South Vietnam, receiving two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for valour. In October 1965, Törni disappeared during a helicopter mission in Southeast Asia. His remains were recovered decades later and formally identified. In 2003, he was buried with full military honours at Arlington National Cemetery. He remains the only former member of the Waffen-SS buried there. This film follows the remarkable and controversial path of a soldier whose life connected three armies and three very different chapters of twentieth-century warfare.
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