In December 1943 the Finnish Army created the famous Thorne Company (Osasto Törni) whose exploits cemented the fame of Larry Thorne and the men who followed him during the last several months of World War II. As part of the 70th anniversary commemoration of its founding, I was asked to deliver the keynote speech at a black-tie dinner in Turku Finland. Especially in light of a recently published Finnish book whose expressed objective was to downplay the “Thorne Legend,” I focussed my remarks on that legend, what it was and what it wasn’t, both in Finland and the United States.
In November 2013 two Finnish authors published a book that aimed to debunk Larry Thorne’s reputation as a Finnish wartime legend. Named “Tuntematon Lauri Törni” (The Unknown Lauri Törni) the book fizzled from its first page on account of its dubious and careless scholarship. Finland’s best known quality weekly Suomen Kuvalehti asked to to write a review of the book. There was so much to say, but the tight word-limit constrained the size of the review. The points I wanted to make were clear.
I was unable to access Larry Thorne’s military records until after both Syntynyt Sotilaaksi and A Scent of Glory were published. Born A Soldier and the Swedish and other later language editions make extensive reference to this new information. Among other things, these records included numerous evaluations of his leadership qualities in non-wartime contingencies.
Thorne’s exploits as a small unit wartime commander will convince anyone of his extraordinary leadership skills under fire. But, what qualities did he display when not serving as a dare-devil combat commander? What kind of leader was he in day-to-day, low-adrenaline situations? There have always been doubts on that score. As one US Army colonel many years after his death once put it to me, “I would have loved to have Thorne in my unit in wartime, and hated to have him in peacetime.”
In spite of many stories of the Thorne legend that suggest his attention-span might have been too short for a peacetime officer, I always thought that the qualities that made him so extraordinary in combat would serve him well in any situation. They were universal skills that came natural to Thorne. I was not surprised then when the US Army records showed this was precisely the case: he was an exceptional leader under all circumstances.
My essay provides detail on Thorne’s performance in both the peacetime and warime American armies.
To demonstrate how far off base are detractors of Larry’s Thorne’s excellence as an officer, wartime and peacetime, I have summarized ten years of his officers evaluations in the US Army. Like other officers, he was evaluated semi-annually relative to other officers of his rank. In peacetime units he was normally rated among the top 10 – 20% of all officers his rank. In wartime units, he was off the chart, considered among the highest of all officers.
Here are selections from Larry Thorne’s Officer Efficiency Evaluations made between March 27, 1957 and July 20, 1965. The evaluations included qualitative and quantitative measurements of the officer’s performance and potential. They were done by his commanding officer and endorsing officer (the next up the chain of command). What is remarkable is how high he was ranked, given his lack of extensive officer training and schooling in the US Army. This is all the more noteworthy given his difficulties with English, particularly during his early years. The rating officers make this latter point clearly in their evaluations. The evaluations also show he was on a trajectory, as they become ever more laudatory as they go along.
