MILITARY PERSONNEL

Lauri Törni

1919 - 1965

Photo of Lauri Törni

Icon of person Lauri Törni

Lauri Allan Törni (28 May 1919 – 18 October 1965), later known as Larry Alan Thorne, was a Finnish-born soldier who fought under three flags: as a Finnish Army officer in the Winter War and the Continuation War ultimately gaining a rank of captain; as a Waffen-SS captain (under the alias Larry Laine) of the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS when he fought the Red Army on the Eastern Front in World War II; and as a United States Army Major (under the alias "Larry Thorne") when he served in the U.S. Army Special Forces in the Vietnam War. Törni died in a helicopter crash that occurred on October 18, 1965, during a covert mission in Laos amidst the Vietnam War. Serving with the U.S. Army Special Forces, Törni was involved in operations conducted by MACV-SOG when the helicopter he was on crashed under unclear circumstances. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Lauri Törni has received more than 2,275,389 page views. His biography is available in 29 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 26 in 2019). Lauri Törni is the 615th most popular military personnel (down from 488th in 2019), the 513th most popular biography from Russia (down from 426th in 2019) and the 46th most popular Russian Military Personnel.

Lauri Törni is most famous for being the first Westerner to become a hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union award, the Order of Lenin, and the Order of the Red Banner.

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.3M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 58.83

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 29

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.47

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.14

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among MILITARY PERSONNELS

Among military personnels, Lauri Törni ranks 615 out of 2,058. Before him are Otto von Kotzebue, Uzi Narkiss, Kirill Moskalenko, Oda Nobuhide, Huang Gai, and Christian de Castries. After him are Mikhail Skobelev, Alexander von Falkenhausen, Johan Laidoner, Hubert Lyautey, Wolfgang Lüth, and Takeichi Nishi.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1919, Lauri Törni ranks 64. Before him are Art Blakey, Valentino Mazzola, René Barrientos, Joe Weider, Ian Smith, and Licio Gelli. After him are Wolfgang Wagner, Bob Paisley, Mieczysław Weinberg, José Villalonga, Maurice Herzog, and Archduke Rudolf of Austria. Among people deceased in 1965, Lauri Törni ranks 35. Before him are Louis Hjelmslev, Fan Noli, Adolf Schärf, Frederick Fleet, David O. Selznick, and Mehdi Ben Barka. After him are Sydney Chaplin, Clara Bow, Hans Knappertsbusch, Angelica Balabanoff, Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i, and Aksel Sandemose.

Others Born in 1919

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Others Deceased in 1965

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In Russia

Among people born in Russia, Lauri Törni ranks 513 out of 3,761. Before him are Nikolay Bogolyubov (1909), Nikolay Gumilyov (1886), Yevgeny Mravinsky (1903), Leonid Gaidai (1923), Sergey Brin (1973), and Vera Menchik (1906). After him are Mikhail Skobelev (1843), Mirsaid Sultan-Galiev (1892), Elem Klimov (1933), Nikolay Shvernik (1888), Nikolai Chernykh (1931), and Vladimir Arsenyev (1872).

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Among MILITARY PERSONNELS In Russia

Among military personnels born in Russia, Lauri Törni ranks 46. Before him are Dmitry Utkin (1970), Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov (1787), Dmitry Pozharsky (1577), Filipp Golikov (1900), Mikhail Alekseyev (1857), and Nikolay Gumilyov (1886). After him are Mikhail Skobelev (1843), Sergey Biryuzov (1904), Werner Ostendorff (1903), Markian Popov (1902), Werner Kempf (1886), and Roza Shanina (1924).

Russian born Military Personnels

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