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In 1979 Barry Sadler published the first of a series of 53 historical fantasy books orbiting around Casca Rufio Longinus, the Roman legionary who purportedly pierced the side of Christ with the Holy Lance. Barry Sadler was a Vietnam-era US Special Forces veteran best known for his hit song, “The Ballad of the Green Berets.” This book series was titled, “Casca, The Eternal Mercenary.”
Sadler penned the first 22 books, while other writers continued the series. The titular central character is the aforementioned Roman legionary. As Christ hangs dying on the cross some of his blood wipes across Casca’s lips. At that moment by the power of the Son of God Casca is made immortal, cursed to wander the earth a soldier until the Second Coming. While much of the writing is fairly vapid, that was an incredibly cool plot device.
Each book explores Casca’s experience fighting during some different historical era. By the time he has lived a century or two Casca gets very, very good at the art of soldiering. If I could have carte blanc to craft any work of fiction it would be to retire behind my MacBook and resurrect the tale of Casca in a modern context. Spinning that story in Information Age trappings would be such fun. It would also make a simply fantastic movie.
So why all this talk of a 1980’s-era pulpy men’s fiction series mostly forgotten by the modern world? Because Lauri Allan Torni was a decent approximation of a real-live modern-day Casca. He was the eternal soldier.
Origin Story
Born in 1919 in Viipuri Province in Finland, Lauri Torni fought the Soviets beginning with the battles around Lake Ladoga in December of 1939. Torni was commissioned a Vanrikki, or 2LT, in the Finnish Army. While fighting the Soviets during the Continuation War Torni developed a reputation for audacity and inspirational leadership. In 1943 he took command of his eponymous Detachment Torni, a deep penetration special operations unit that took the fight to the Russians deep in their rear areas, cut off and alone. The future President of Finland, Mauno Koivisto, served under his command. The unit adopted a distinctive unit insignia that featured a prominent “T” in reference to their dashing young commander.
Torni’s marauders caused such consternation among Soviet combat formations that they put a bounty of three million Finnish marks on his head. Torni was the only Finnish officer so recognized. In 1942 Torni skied across an antipersonnel mine and was badly wounded. On July 9, 1944, Lauri Torni was awarded the Mannerheim Cross for exceptional bravery while fighting the Soviets. The Mannerheim Cross is the Finnish equivalent of the US Medal of Honor.
Political alliances in the 1940s were complicated, and when arrayed against the Russian bear the Finns found themselves fighting alongside the Germans. During the course of World War 2, the Germans accepted volunteers from across Europe and the occupied territories for the SS. Torni trained with the Waffen SS starting in 1941 and was eventually promoted to Untersturmfuhrer.
Like most of Europe, Finland had a tough time of it during the war. Their war with the Soviets waxed and waned through 1944 until it formally ended with the Moscow Armistice. Convinced that Communism represented an existential threat to the Finnish way of life, Torni traveled to Germany and trained in sabotage and unconventional warfare with the SS. In early 1945 he fell in with German units fighting the Soviets near Schwerin until he was captured by the British. Remanded to a POW camp in Lubeck, Torni ultimately escaped and made his way back to Finland soon after VE Day.
Finland had been caught between two desperate evils and was anxious to cleanse itself of the Nazi taint. As a result, despite his holding the Mannerheim Cross Torni was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison. He escaped and was rearrested a time or two before evading into Sweden. In 1950 Torni signed on as crew aboard the Swedish cargo ship MS Skagen bound for the Gulf of Mexico. Once within sight of the American coast, he dove overboard and swam into Mobile, Alabama.
Equipped with nothing but his wits Lauri Torni made his way to New York City and established himself in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park among the Finnish diaspora there. He supported himself working as a carpenter and cleaner. In 1954 Torni enlisted in the US Army as one of around 200 foreigners accepted under the provisions of the Lodge-Philbin Act to fight the Soviets. Upon his enlistment, he adopted the name, Larry Thorne.
Fighting Under a Third Banner
Larry Thorne was a warrior’s warrior, so he naturally gravitated toward the US Special Forces. He was 36 years old when he attended Airborne school. While an SF soldier, he instructed survival, skiing, mountaineering, and guerilla tactics. In 1957 he was granted US citizenship and commissioned a 2d Lieutenant in the Signal Corps. From 1958 through 1962 Thorne served with the 10th Special Forces Group in Bad Tolz, West Germany. While with 10th Group he led a successful covert mission into Iran to recover sensitive equipment and bodies from a downed USAF C130 cargo plane.
Thorne first deployed to Vietnam in November of 1963. As part of Special Forces Detachment A-734 Thorne worked with the Civilian Irregular Defense Groups. During one particularly intense attack on CIDG forces at Tjnh Bien he earned a Bronze Star for Valor. With two Purple Hearts to his credit and his first tour complete, Thorne rotated home to the US.
CPT Larry Thorne deployed on his second combat tour in Vietnam in February 1965 with the 5thSpecial Forces Group. He was assigned to the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam—Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG). On October 18, 1965, CPT Thorne launched aboard a South Vietnamese H34 helicopter from Kham Duc Special Forces Camp on a mission to locate Viet Cong nodes along the Ho Chi Minh trail for attention with airstrikes.
The air component of this operation consisted of a pair of RVNAF (Republic of Vietnam Air Force) H34s as well as a USAF O-1 Bird Dog Forward Air Controller aircraft. While operating in the Quang Nam Province some 25 miles from Da Nang the three aircraft encountered unexpectedly foul weather. The second H34 dropped through a hole in the clouds to insert a six-man surveillance team. When they climbed back above the cloud cover both Thorne’s H34 and the Bird Dog were gone.
The Guns
During his Finnish service, Laurie Torni carried a Suomi KP/-31 9mm submachine gun. Suomi KP/-31 is short for Suomi-konepistooli or “Finland Submachine Gun.” One of the most successful SMG designs of WW2, the Suomi KP was a rugged machined steel open-bolt weapon that fed from either 36-round stick magazines or 71-round drums. The drum magazine of the KP was later aped by the Soviets for their PPD and PPSh SMGs.
The Suomi KP weighed 10.14 pounds and cycled at between 750 and 900 rounds per minute. Some 80,000 copies were produced between 1931 and 1953. The KP saw service all the way through the Israeli War for Independence and the Korean War. Unlike similar weapons, the Suomi KP featured an easily exchanged barrel. Finnish operators were issued with a spare barrel to use when the first overheated.
Photographic evidence of Torni’s service with the Waffen SS is scant. However, late in the war, SS formations would have been armed predominantly with the MP40 SMG, the Kar 98k bolt-action rifle, and the MP44 assault rifle. The MP40 was an evolutionary development of the previous MP38. The MP38 was built around a machined steel receiver, while that of the MP40 was pressed from sheet stock. The MP40 was the first mass-produced infantry combat weapon to eschew wooden furniture and be designed specifically for mass production.
At the time he went missing CPT Thorne was armed with a Swedish Carl Gustav m/45 submachine gun. This weapon was formally designated the Kulsprutepistol m/45. US forces called it the Swedish K or K Rifle.
The Swedish K saw extensive service with US Navy SEALs who favored the weapon-based upon its fast handling and capacity to fire when coming straight out of the surf (“Over the Beach”). Army Special Forces and CIA operators used the weapon as well. Many of the K Rifles used in Vietnam were sanitized without serial numbers. A few included a superb sound suppressor.
The Swedish K was an open-bolt full auto-only design of a fairly conventional layout. It fed on 36-round stick magazines and cycled at a sedate 600 rounds per minute. When Sweden forbade further exports to the US in protest to the war in Vietnam the government tasked Smith and Wesson with contriving a replacement. The subsequent M76 saw very limited use in the latter stages of the war.
The Rest of the Story
CPT Thorne was listed as missing and was subsequently promoted to Major. Rumors swirled that this indestructible warrior had survived the crash of his aircraft and was either actively fighting against the communists or languishing in some secret POW camp. However, in 1999 a Joint Task Force-Full Accounting team along with Finnish personnel located his crash site. Major Thorne’s remains were finally definitively identified in 2003, and he and his teammates were repatriated to the US. Major Larry Thorne was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on June 26, 2003. He is the only veteran of the Waffen SS interred in this hallowed space.
One of the best vacations my family and I ever took was to Chicago. We did the museums, wandered about taking in the sights, and ate some great food. Unfortunately, several decades of left-wing governance have taken their inevitable toll. As anyone who has watched the news will tell you, Chicago has a bit of a violence problem these days.
It’s pretty tough to buy a legal gun in Chicago, though the illegal sort apparently litter the place. Until recent times, the Windy City had no gun shops. There are a few now, but you still have to have special cards, government permission, and similar stuff to obtain a weapon legally. Despite all that, in 2020 there were 780 murders in Chicago. Over the July 4th weekend in 2021 more than 100 people were shot. Tragically, eighteen perished.
Per capita, Chicago is far from the worst. In 2020 they had about 25 murders per 100,000 people. I’m disappointed to report that the reigning champion that year was actually Jackson, Mississippi, with a murder rate of roughly twice that. Our sordid tale this day takes us through both places.
My Credentials
I live in a small town in the Deep South today. A great many folks are armed, and, with blessed few exceptions, everybody is friendly. Crimes of violence are quite unusual. Property crime happens from time to time, but thankfully that’s rare, too.
I learned to be a doctor in Jackson, Mississippi, apparently per capita one of the most violent places in the country. I would assert that this was also the best place on the planet to learn medicine. The facility and faculty were indeed both top flight, but that wasn’t the secret to a stellar medical education. Jackson was a great place to learn medicine because of the patients.
That part of Mississippi is one of the most morbidly obese places on planet earth. It is a uniquely modern phenomenon that our poor people are fat. With such profoundly poor diets and a dearth of exercise come scads of metabolic maladies. Diabetes and hypertension were ubiquitous, and there was a thin scattering of venereal disease sprinkled over the top as well.
My patients routinely neglected to do what I asked of them. We often discussed stuff like diet and exercise, but that was clearly more for my benefit than theirs. Oftentimes some enormous Jacksonian endured my spiel about the many-splendored dangers of fast food, cigarettes, and a sedentary lifestyle before departing my clinic determined not to change a blessed thing.
Lastly, in their free time my patients not infrequently shot each other. I never did a shift in the ER at the Level 1 trauma center where I trained without at least one gunshot wound. My personal record was seven. However, those sordid attributes also made it a great place to learn. Once I hung out my shingle in a normal place with moms, dads, and patients who heeded my advice, being an effective doctor seemed relatively breezy.
Profiling
Terrion Pouncy was a thug. While I have not had the pleasure of meeting Terrion myself, I have indeed met many like him. At risk of being labeled whatever it is you get labeled with these days for simply describing the world as it is, here’s what these guys are like up close.
These are the gladiators. They’re often exceptionally fit and typically covered in gang tats. They are invariably combative and belligerent when they present to the emergency department acutely shot. I mean, who wouldn’t be? However, once you save their lives and get them out of that environment they’re most commonly quite friendly. I have had some of the most delightful conversations with these guys as they recuperated after surgery.
None of them had dads, and their moms often stayed in the rooms with them. These long-suffering ladies did the best they could considering, but there aren’t a whole lot of positive role models in that world. These guys gravitate toward crime, drugs, and violence in an effort at escaping their dreadful circumstances.
Occupational Hazards
At 6 am on a chilly November day in 2017, Terrion Pouncy approached a 24-hour hotdog stand at 11656 South Halsted Street in the West Pullman neighborhood in Chicago. The stand was manned by a pair of unidentified guys aged 39 and 45. Terrion was dressed in a dark hooded sweatshirt pulled up over his head. He had a similarly dark scarf that concealed his face.
These were the days before covid, so facial coverings were not quite as commonplace as is the case today. Surveillance videos posted on YouTube demonstrate that modern criminals are exceptionally conscientious about mask-wearing. Regardless, it was cold and dark, so Terrion likely got pretty close before the hot dog guys grew suspicious.
Pouncy approached the two men, produced a .38-caliber handgun, and demanded the money in the cash register. The younger of the two victims readily complied. However, this man was also holding a bucket of hot grease at the time. As he fumbled for the cash in the register he accidentally dropped the bucket, spilling hot grease liberally across the floor.
Terrion lustily grabbed the cash, most of it in ones, and started shoving it into his pants. Before departing, Terrion availed himself of the man’s wallet and cell phone as well. All this was captured on surveillance video.
As Pouncy turned to jog away he stuffed his handgun back into his waistband and slipped on the spilled grease. Unfortunately, his hands were full, and he was in a rush. The trigger caught on something, and the gun went off. This is where Terrion’s morning took an unexpectedly dark turn.
Pouncy ran down the street to an abandoned car wash now bleeding vigorously. There he was seen throwing something, presumably his weapon, over a fence. He then called 911 and reported that he had been shot.
First responders found Pouncy with a through-and-through gunshot wound to his penis and another to his thigh. Both injuries were clearly from the same round. The cops later found his discarded hoodie and weapon. The younger of the two robbery victims discovered his wallet near the spot where the ambulance retrieved the freshly neutered criminal.
Pouncy was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and admitted. While there he missed his initial hearing, so Judge Stephanie Miller ordered him held without bond. I bet hers is a simply fascinating job. Despite an aggressive Google search, I never could find out what became of poor Terrion. Even if they just let him go, the argument could be made that he has already been punished adequately.
Closer to Home
I myself had a similar encounter while working in the ER in Jackson. A young unlicensed pharmacist got sideways with a competitor, and they both slapped leather. This guy’s Hi-Point 9mm went off on the draw stroke, centerpunching his male member mid-shaft but fortuitously missing everything else. His opponent apparently felt that justice had been adequately served and abandoned him bleeding on the sidewalk.
This guy was justifiably unsettled when we met, but the paramedics had gotten much of the bleeding staunched enroute. We packaged him up for the Urology residents who were thrilled to get an interesting surgical case. When your world orbits around bladder cancer and inflamed prostate glands a good old-fashioned gunshot wound to the shlong is a reliable crowd-pleaser.
I actually saw that guy for something else some months later and he offered to let me take a peek at his offended member. It had indeed healed nicely, no doubt a tribute to the rarefied skill of our resident Urologists. It did, however, cock off at a jaunty angle around mid-shaft. Our hero was thrilled to report that it still functioned as intended. He explained that his injury might have even made him more popular with the local ladies based solely upon the novelty of the thing. Thank goodness he could still reproduce.
The Gun
I write for the gun press, and I proudly own a Hi-Point pistol. Those who denigrate the performance of these inexpensive guns have clearly not logged a great deal of trigger time on one. My Hi-Point shoots quite well.
Originally launched in 1992, Hi-Point produces inexpensive, reliable firearms. Their catalog includes both pistols and carbines in a variety of calibers. All of their weapons are based upon the straight blowback operating system. This design mandates an unusually heavy slide.
Hi-Point slides are die cast from an inexpensive zinc alloy called Zamak-3. The frames are steel-reinforced polymer. Ancillary bits demanding gun-grade strength are cut from steel as well. The aesthetic result looks like a blow dryer had a baby with an electric toaster.
The single action trigger on the Hi-Point is a bit mushy but quite serviceable. The gun’s single-stack magazines are relatively easy to swap, and the safety is intuitive. One of the red dots on my rear sight fell out, but Hi-Point pistols shoot plenty straight. Mine has also been unflinchingly reliable. The bulk of the slide makes concealment a chore, but that doesn’t mean that literally countless young thugs haven’t successfully pulled it off. My Hi-Point C9 set me back $46 without a magazine from a Law Enforcement auction.
Ruminations
So if you were pondering a life of petty crime let me encourage you to seek out a career elsewhere. The money can be good, and the tax burden is admittedly minimal. However, Terrion Pouncy can no doubt attest that the occupational hazards far outweigh the potential rewards. Nobody wants to be shot in the Johnson no matter how much easy cash rides on the enterprise.