Quote: The character Col. Mike Kirby is based on the real life person Lauri Törni, who later on called himself Larry Thorne. Lauri Törni was a Finnish Army captain who fought in the Winter War (1939-40) and Continuation War (1941-44) against the Soviet Union. In 1954 he joined the US Army, and in November 1963 he joined the Special Forces unit A-734 in Vietnam and fought in the Mekong Delta. He disappeared during a mission in 1965 and was presumed dead.