Editing Lauri Törni (section)

===Emigration to the United States===
In 1949, Törni, accompanied by his wartime [[executive officer]] Holger Pitkänen, traveled to [[Sweden]], crossing the border from [[Tornio]] to [[Haparanda]] (Haaparanta), where many inhabitants are ethnic Finns. From Haparanda, Törni traveled by railroad to [[Stockholm]] where he stayed with [[Essen family|Baroness von Essen]], who harbored many fugitive Finnish officers following the war. Pitkänen was arrested and repatriated to Finland. In Sweden, Törni fell in love with a [[Finland Swedish|Swedish Finn]], Marja Kops, and was soon engaged to be married. In order to secure employment, Törni traveled under an alias as a Swedish seaman aboard the SS ''Bolivia'', destined for [[Caracas, Venezuela]], where he met one of his Winter War commanders, the Finnish colonel [[Matti Aarnio]], who was in exile{{citation needed|reason=The article about him doesn't state that he was forced to emigrate|date=July 2021}} in Venezuela after the war. Törni hid on a Swedish cargo ship, the MS ''Skagen'', which traveled from [[Caracas]] for the [[United States]] in 1950.{{sfn|Cleverley|2008|pp=185–186}}

While in the [[Gulf of Mexico]], near [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], [[Alabama]], Törni jumped overboard and swam to shore. Now a political refugee,<ref>{{cite book|title=Finns in the United States: A History of Settlement, Dissent, and Integration|year=2014|publisher=Michigan State University Press|isbn=978-1628950205|page=52|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WxcTAwAAQBAJ|author=Kero, Reino|author-link=Reino Kero|editor=Kostianinen, Auvo|chapter=Part 3: Seamen, Masses, and Individual Migrants of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Migration from Finland to North America|access-date=20 September 2014|archive-date=24 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724200156/https://books.google.com/books?id=WxcTAwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Törni traveled to [[New York City]] where he was helped by the Finnish-American community living in Brooklyn's [[Sunset Park, Brooklyn|Sunset Park]] "[[Finntown]]". There he worked as a carpenter and cleaner. In 1953, Törni was granted a residence permit through an Act of Congress<ref>{{cite journal|title=Chapter 422 [H.R. 2604], Private Law 83-168 – An Act for the relief of Lauri Allan Torni|journal=83rd Congress, 1st Session, 1953|date=12 August 1953|volume=67|page=A60|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-67/pdf/STATUTE-67-PgA60.pdf|access-date=3 June 2014|archive-date=6 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606235242/http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-67/pdf/STATUTE-67-PgA60.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> that was shepherded by the law firm of [[William J. Donovan|"Wild Bill" Donovan]], former head of the [[Office of Strategic Services]].

====United States Army====
Törni [[Enlisted rank|enlisted]] in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] in 1954 under the provisions of the [[Lodge-Philbin Act]] and adopted the name Larry Thorne. In the U.S. Army, he was befriended by a group of [[Finnish-American]] officers who came to be known as "Marttinen's Men" (fin. ''Marttisen miehet'').<ref group="nb">Named after Colonel [[Alpo K. Marttinen]], this group of Finnish wartime officers had immigrated to the United States and joined the U.S. Army under the Lodge Act. Several were brought into the [[US Special Forces]] at its inception.</ref>

With their support, Thorne joined the U.S. Army [[Special Forces (United States Army)|Special Forces]]. While in the Special Forces, he taught [[skiing]], survival, mountaineering, and [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla tactics]]. In turn he attended [[United States Army Airborne School|airborne school]], and advanced in rank to sergeant. Receiving his US citizenship in 1957, Thorne attended [[Officer Candidate School (United States Army)|Officer Candidate School]], and was commissioned as a [[First Lieutenant#U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force|first lieutenant]] in the [[Signal Corps (United States Army)|Signal Corps]].{{sfn|Gill|1998|pp=117–119}} He later received a [[Regular Army (United States)|Regular Army commission]] and a promotion to captain in 1960. From 1958 to 1962, he served in the [[10th Special Forces Group]] in [[West Germany]] at [[Bad Tölz]], from where he was second-in-command of a search and recovery mission high in the [[Zagros Mountains]] of [[Iran]], which gained him a notable reputation.{{sfn|Gill|1998|pp=127–135}} When he was in Germany, he briefly visited his relatives in Finland. In an episode of [[The Big Picture (American TV series)|''The Big Picture'']] released in 1962 and composed of footage filmed in 1959, Thorne is shown as a lieutenant with the 10th Special Forces Group in the United States Army.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv04zcD7hlo Phantom Fighters – The Big Picture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120052718/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv04zcD7hlo |date=2020-11-20 }}, via YouTube.</ref>