Born a Soldier: The Times and Life of Larry A Thorne

Born a Soldier is a tour of the mid-20th century's conflicts with the remarkable Larry Thorne. Capturing the "times" as well as the "life" of its protagonist, it is a journey with one of the century’s most colorful characters. Born "Lauri Törni," he was a Finn who became the legendary leader of one of the most elite companies in the Finnish army, in turn one of the most effective armies of World War II. He carried a price on his head dead or alive from the Russian Red Army, the only Finnish soldier so singled out. Thorne won his country's equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but when World War changed to Cold War, he was targeted by Finland’s post-war communists, arrested, and sentenced as a political prisoner, only to become a fugitive, exile, and illegal alien. Literally swimming ashore to refuge in Cold War America, Thorne eventually gained legal status in the US through an Act of Congress. One of America’s earliest Green Berets Thorne became a legend there, as well, through his exploits in Europe, Iran, and Vietnam. The book The Green Berets memorialized Thorne as its first Vietnam hero, "Kornie" in Chapter One, the chapter that served as the basis for the movie.