WW2 vets in Vietnam

[kordts]

Larry Thorne's story makes fiction seem tame. What guts and skills the guy had. I wish he was as well known here in the US as he deserves to be.


Peace out,

Kordts

[KAKI3152]

Major Siegfried Freytag, an fighter pilot with 102 victories flying Bf-109s joined the French Foreign Legion after the war. He served as a infantry NCO on Indochina. He spent the rest of his military career in the FFL and eventually retired to the retiremnt home run by the Legion in France,where he died in 2003. He won the Knight Cross.

[Laurent Daniel]

Hi, KAKI3152,
Thanks for the info.
A little remark:
In French FFL invariably means Forces Francaises Libres, i.e. the Free French.
I know that in English it can mean French Foreign Legion but, at first glance, I was confused.
And I guess the other francophone members of this forum also.
But if you write the French initials for the Legion, LEF, now all other members will be confused.....
No solution it seems.
However, thanks again.
Regards
Daniel

[Laurent Daniel]

Rold Steiner.
AFTERWARDS HE FAKES HIS OWN DEATH AND IS INVOLVED OF THE ATTEMPT BY NAZIS IN THE LEGION ENTRAGER TO OVERTHROW THE FRENCH REPUBLIC WITH A REVOLT IN MORROCCO.
TS Allen

In Morocco? Are you sure?
Maybe you are talking about the "Putch" attempt that occured in Algeria during the war between French forces and the Algerian insurgents there?

If it is the case, let me know, I can give you details about that revolt.

[Swe-interest]

Former Finnish president Mauno Koivisto served with Lauri Törni, alias Larry Thorne, during WWII. Here´s a link to an article about his experiences in swedish, with photo of Lauri/Larry.
http://www.veteraanienperinto.fi/svensk ... _koivi.htm

[Laurent Daniel]

Hi, Allen,
Now I got it.
So, I can write I AM A STUPID FROG and you will not believe it, right?


Back to Algeria, the main unit that participated to an attempt of "coup d'etat" was the 1st Foreign Paratroopers Regiment (1er Regiment Etranger de Parachutiste). It was in 1961, only 20 years after the beginning of WW2.
So, yes, it is very much possible that there still were German WW2 vets in this unit.
The regiment has been disbanded after the failure of the coup. Only the French officers were "retired" and 12 of them jailed. The foreigners were, most of them, incorporated in other units.
I could elaborate about the why and who of that attempt, but that's too much off-topic here. I will only say that it wasn't really "Vichyste".
Regards
Daniel

[Hanell]

Hello all,

don´t know if this is a proper place to post this, but here´s some vets that served both WWII & Vietnam:

http://www.findagrave.com/forums/showfl ... &fpart=all