SPA Modeler

To be honest I'm not to sure I'll have to ask my Grandma to see if she knows. They moved alot when he was a boy then after his father was killed fighting the Russians his mom moved them back to Germany to live with her parents. At the age of 17 in 1944 he married my Grandma and driven by a hate of the Russians and communism shipped out to the eastern front. After the war my Grandmas father Helmut von Wretzel who had experience with jet aircraft got a offer from the US that extended to his family as well. At W/P field my Grandpa got his journeyman papers then got a job working for delco. When the Korean war broke out again his hatred for communism had him volunteer and did his tour of duty for his new country America. Then when Vietnam broke out he was working for delco in Anderson and again volunteered to do his part to stop communism but this time they wouldn't take him telling him he was to old. Kind of odd to see his life set out like this sorry I've ramble on I miss him we just lost him this year.

Clint, your grandfather has a similar tale to Larry Thorne. Except for living longer and not having his life cut short in the service of his new adopted homeland.

Kari, that is great work improvising the weld bead gap filler.

Stikpusher wrote:Clint, your grandfather has a similar tale to Larry Thorne. Except for living longer and not having his life cut short in the service of his new adopted homeland.

Kari, that is great work improvising the weld bead gap filler.

I just read a bio of him that guy was a true bad ass my Grandpa lead a quite life compared to him one similar situation his SS unit also surrendered to the British.

The Argyl and Sutherland Highlanders.... good guys! I crossed paths with them in Bosnia and spent many enjoyable hours with some in the NCO & Warrant Officers Mess. Cheers mates! (Where ever you are today)

Thank you Clint, amazingly interesting story! Yes, would be really cool to know some more details!

Carlos: Indeed, the Finnish soldier Lauri A Törni, aka Larry A. Thorne... A big war hero for the Finns, still is..
There is a Hollywood movie made, "The green berets", were John Wayne himself played Larry Thorne... To be honest, I am not even sure if I have seen it...



Bruce, perhaps your grandfather has kept some diary, notes somewhere... hidden... that could open his story to you?

Ok, time to get back to the bench!

- Kari

Yes, I made friends with some Finns one night near the end of my tour in Bosnia because I knew who Larry Thorne was.... let’s just say that it one hell of a night from that point...

John Wayne’s character in The Green Berets was not based on Larry Thorne. Thorne is mentioned under the pseudo name of “Korny” in the Robin Moore source material novel. The novel has multiple independent short stories (all supposedly based upon actual events-the names have been changed to protect the innocent for publishing) that were combined for the screenplay script. I have not read it in decades, so I can not recall exactly where he was in the novel.

Thanks for the info, you are absolutely correct. I did also now read a brief description of the book and the opening chapter tells about this Larry (or Stevie Kornie in the book).
The tales within Finns say, the entire book is about him!
But that is definitely not the case. I must admit, a little bit funny! :-)

- Kari

Ok, I just read the Wiki article on the novel. The first chapter with “Kornie” was the A-Camp battle... now I remember. That character in the film is changed to a Capt McDaniels, who leads that ODA for that portion of the movie.

Great work on the Jagdpanther! I really like what you did with the handles... makes a big difference. That Bondic pen is really useful isn't it? The more I see your work on this kit, the more I realize... I'M NOT READY FOR ARMOR!!!