Lodge Act.

This is coolbert:

In the wiki entry for Larry Thorne, reference is made to the Lodge Act.

An effort to recruit specialized personnel from eastern European countries to the U.S. Army. Men who were anti-communist, had military skills, training, maybe even experiencing actual combat while serving as a partisan during World War Two [WW2].

Recruited almost exclusively to serve in American Special Forces [SF] units.

SF troops that would be parachuted into Soviet territory in case of an all-out war with the communists. Organize and lead into battle partisan units. Conduct guerrilla warfare behind-the-lines.

"The Lodge-Philbin Act was a U.S. law, passed on 30 June 1950, which allowed for the recruiting of foreign nationals into a military force, fighting under the command of the U.S. armed forces. The Act permitted initially up to 2,500 non-resident aliens (later expanded to allow up to 12,500) to enlist."

"recruits from Eastern Europe (the Soviet Bloc) to form infiltration units working in that part of the world. More than 200 Eastern Europeans qualified before the Act expired in 1959. No German nationals or citizens of countries of the Marshall Plan or of NATO were eligible."

[only a very small number, 200, actually were taken in under the Lodge Act!!??]

There WAS a dire need at the time [1950's] for such military personnel. Soldiers that could speak the languages, pass as a local national, familiar with the culture, etc. Willing to parachute into what in all probability was their communist occupied homeland and operate as guerrillas if necessary.

Recruits quite often were persons with a very strong anti-communist background. And often too had entered into the United States by dubious means. Such as Larry Thorne.

"in 1950, was hired to a Norwegian cargo ship, MS Libre Villa, whose destination was the United States. In the Gulf of Mexico, near the city of Mobile, Alabama, Törni [Thorne] jumped overboard and swam to shore. Törni [Thorne] travelled to New York City where he got a job as a carpenter and a cleaner with help from Finnish settlers. In 1953 Törni [Thorne] was granted permit of residence"

[once again, by the standards of the time [1950], and NOW, Larry was an ILLEGAL ALIEN!!]

In addition, Larry had also trained and served with German SS units. A foreign volunteer for the SS! Even prepared to become a German werwolf partisan post-war [WW2]!

[yes, the spelling is correct, werwolf!! Grrrrr!!]

"Törni [Thorne] was one of the men who were sent to Germany to train with Waffen-SS"

"went to Germany in 1945 for additional Werwolf saboteur training in order to be able to organize resistance in the case that Finland would be taken by Russia."

NORMALLY, PERSONS SUCH AS LARRY WOULD NOT EVEN HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO ENTER THE U.S., MUCH LESS SERVE IN THE U.S. ARMY OR BECOME AN OFFICER. Membership in the German SS then and even now is a bar to even entering the U.S. or becoming a resident!

The Lodge Act did permit very strident anti-communists as Larry Thorne to become legal residents and serve with distinction in the U.S. Army. Serve in a capacity where they were most needed AT THE TIME!!

My own perception is that Larry Thorne and persons like him were not so much pro-fascist as anti-communist and especially anti-Soviet [and for good reasons too!!].

coolbert.