Finnish WW2 hero who fought for SOG in 'nam (KIA 1965)

[obd]

Larry Thorne began his military carreer as Lauri Torni, a Finish commando whose exploits behind Russian lines resulted in his being awarded the Mannerheim Cross, Finlands highest honor. He first distinguished himself in Europe and then joined the US Special Forces in its early years. He fought in a SOG-SF unit in Vietnam in cross border operations into Laos and Cambodia. He became the first SOG soldier to die in 1965. His remians were recently recovered from Laos and he is currently interned at Arlington National Cemetary along with the Kingbee pilot who die with him when thier helocopter crashed on an operation in Laos....I am glad his remains were found and were brought back where they belong...

RIP.

I have a picture of the man......If anybody wants it let me know and I will go down to the library and scan it......


In other SOG news, Lt. Ken Bowra, who was the one-zero (team leader) of RT Cobra at CCN in 1971 and the one-zero of RT Idaho which eventually became the first all-indig unit to successfully run a SOG operation, recently retired as a Major General in command of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Ft. Bragg NC......

May you have a well deserved happy and peaceful retirement.....Hooyah!!!

[moughoun]

Ya OBD, I've heard of him but nerer seen a pic, so if it's not too much bother it'd be great thank's woot

[n4292936]

Another great Finnish Warrior - over 500 kills from his sniper rifle alone - reportedley another 200 from his machine gun.

WINTER WAR SHOOTER LEGEND WAS A QUIET MAN

The legendary Winter War marksman Simo Häyhä died on the 1st of April in Hamina at the age of 96 years old. He was born on the 17th of December 1905 at Rautjärvi in Karelia, which was turned over to Russia after the war. Simo Häyhä spent his last times in a nursing home for the war veterans in Hamina.

Häyhä's father was a farmer, which was also the profession chosen by his son. The family's men were eager hunters and fishers.

Simo Häyhä joined the "Suojeluskunta" (a Finnish voluntary defence organization, politically right-wing) when he was 17 years old. He served his mandatory military service in a bicycle battalion and returned home as a Lance Corporal.

Simo Häyhä became one of the great heroes of the Kollaa front during the Winter War, which broke out in November 1939. He was nick-named "White Death" due to his infallible shooting skills.

Military statistics have usually placed Häyhä among the elite of marksmen. Häyhä shot at least 500 enemy soldiers. The amount is so great that Häyhä still leads the marksmen's kill statistic published on web pages.

Simo Häyhä fought with the JR34's (Infantry Regiment) sixth company in the Winter War. The company was led by the fearless "Horror of Marocco", captain Aarne Juutilainen. Häyhä used a Sako 7.62mm iron-sight rifle, the "pystykorva", as his weapon.

Häyhä, who was also called "Simuna", was wounded near the end of the Winter War from an exploding bullet that hit his chin. He was forced to spend a large amount of time in hospitals and endure multiple surgeries during the treatment of his wound. The chin was repaired with a transplant taken from his hip.

The injuries were considered so severe that Häyhä was not able to

fight in the Continuation War. He started to farm his new home in Ruokolahti and hunt game.

One of his famous hunting friends was President Urho Kekkonen, who visited him to hunt moose.

For a long time, the quiet Häyhä was only known from Erkki Palolampi's successful book

"Kollaa kestää" (1940). However, Petteri Sarjanen managed to interview the aged Häyhä and

write "Valkoinen kuolema" (1998), a biography of him.

On the last Independence Day, Häyhä said to Helsingin Sanomat (the newspaper I'm quoting

from): "I did what I was told to the best of my ability".

In August 1940, Marshal Mannerheim promoted the now-Corporal Häyhä straight to Second

Lieutenant. No one else has ever made such a ranking jump in the Finnish Defence forces.

Those who have fought at Kolla have their own honorary medal, the Kollaa cross. Häyhä was

awarded the silver cross number four.
---

For more info on Häyhä's life, just do a search at (for example) Google for "Simo Häyhä".

INFO ABOUT WINTER WAR:

Finland had only 300 000 men and most of the soldiers had given only rifle, belt and cockade.

At the first soviet troops had 450 000 men, but in the end there were 1 000 000 men. Soviets had 2 000 panzers, 2 000 artillery and 1000 airplanes.

About 23 000 Finnish died or disappeared and 43 000 wounded.

Even today, soviet troops casulties are not well known. According to Finnish, about 200 000 soviets died and 600 000 wounded. Finnish captured 5 600 soviet prisoners.

Finland had lot of sympathy all over the world. Volunteers came everywhere. Number of volunteers:
Sweden 8 000
Denmark 1 000
Norway 700
Usa 400
Hungary 340
Estonia 56
others 150.

300 journalist from all over the world were in Finland and reporting "Battle of small people vs. Great Nation"

Soviet Unions action were critisized and Finland was raised as hero. New term was borned, "Miracle of Winter War". Popularity gained like Finnish "sisu" (=guts), cross country skiing skills, low temperature,
"motti" (=siege), knife, Finnish machine gun and Molotov-cocktail (=bottle full of benzin).

Also General Mannerheim was raised to news headlines.

In the famous battle of Winter War "road of Raate", Finnish troops destroyed 2 divisions to the last men.
Russian troop strength totaled 48,000 men, 335 cannon, 100 tanks and 50 armored cars. The Finnish defenders reinforced from a few thousand now numbered 17,000 with 11 cannons under the command of Colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo. his only hope was to defeat the Russians in detail. And he did.

Links:

http://www.winterwar.comhttp://virtual.finland.fi/finfo/english/war7.htmlhttp://www.mil.fi/tiedotus/talvisota_eng/
http://www.kaiku.com/winterwar.html
http://www.mannerheim.fi[/img]

[G1]

I've heard so much about these guys that I'm a bit tired of the subject, actually. :) Still, they have some very interesting stories.

[Argyll]

There's already a good thread about him here in the History section ;)

[NeedsABetterName]

ENOUGH ABOUT THIS Simo Häyhä GUY! JESUS CHRIST IT IS SO ANNOYING!Simo Häyhä this,Simo Häyhä that,oh he's the best,hey lets make another frickin' post about him...