Keith Payne

Infobox Military Person
name=Keith Payne
born= birth date|1933|8|30
died=


caption=Keith Payne VC (right) and Edward Kenna VC (left)
nickname=
placeofbirth=Ingham, Queensland
placeofdeath=
placeofburial=
allegiance=flagicon|AustraliaAustralia
branch=flagicon|AustraliaAustralian Army
serviceyears=1951-1975
rank=Warrant Officer Class 1
unit=1RAR 28th Commonwealth Bde 11 National Service Training Bn 3RAR 5RAR 2 PIR Headquarters Northern Command AATV RMC 42 RQR
commands=
battles=
awards=Victoria Cross Medal of the Order of Australia Distinguished Service Cross Silver Star
relations=
laterwork= Counselling sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Keith Payne, VC, OAM (born 30 August 1933), is an Australian hero of the Vietnam War. He is a recipient of the Victoria Cross, Australia's most recent recipient and one of only two living Australian recipients, the other being Edward Kenna.

Early life

Keith Payne was born at Ingham, Queensland, on 30 August1933. He attended Ingham State School and later became an apprentice cabinet-maker. Unsatisfied with working as a tradesman, Payne joined the army in August 1951 and was posted to the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment in September the following year.

Military career

Payne served with his unit in the Korean War between April 1952 and March 1953. He married Florence Plaw, a member of the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps, in December 1954, and was promoted to corporal the following year. Payne served in Malaya with this unit and in 1965, now a sergeant, he joined the 5th Battalion. In June 1965, by now a Company Sergeant-Major, Payne undertook Officer Training. In February 1967 he was posted to Papua New Guinea where he served with the 2nd Pacific Islands Regiment. He remained there until March 1968 when he returned to Brisbane. On 24 February 1969 he was appointed to the Australian Army Training Team in Vietnam.

Victoria Cross Action

In May that year he was commanding the 212th Company of the 1st Mobile Strike Force Battalion when it was attacked by a strong North Vietnamese force. His company was isolated and, surrounded on three sides, Payne's Vietnamese troops began to fall back. Payne, by now wounded in the hands and arms and under heavy fire, covered the withdrawal before organising his troops into a defensive perimeter. He then spent three hours scouring the scene of the day's fight for isolated and wounded soldiers, all the while evading the enemy who kept up regular fire. He found some forty wounded men, brought some in himself and organised the rescue of the others, leading the party back to base through enemy dominated terrain.

Payne's actions that night earned him the Victoria Cross, which was gazetted on 19 September 1969. [LondonGazette|issue=44938|supp=yes|startpage=9703|date=19 September 1969|accessdate=2008-08-04]

He was evacuated to Brisbane in September suffering from an illness, receiving a warm reception at the airport before entering hospital. In January 1970 Payne was posted to the Royal Military College Duntroon as an instructor, with a promotion to Warrant Officer Class 1.

Payne received his VC from the Queen aboard the Royal Yacht, Britannia, in Brisbane. He was made a Freeman of the city and of the shire in which his hometown was located. A park in Stafford, Brisbane, where Payne lived was also named after him. He also received the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star from the United States of America and the Republic of Vietnam awarded Payne the Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Bronze Star.

Later life

Payne retired from the army in 1975, but saw further action as a captain with the Army of the Sultan of Oman in the Dhofar War.

He joined the Legion of Frontiersmen in 1975 and holds the rank of an Honorary Chief Commissioner.

Payne returned to Australia and became active in the veteran community, particularly in counselling sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder. Payne and his wife raised five sons & are now living at Mackay, Queensland. He was also awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his service to the veteran community in 2006.

In the media

Payne was interviewed for the 2006 television docudrama "Victoria Cross Heroes" which also included archive footage and dramatisations of his actions. [cite web |url=http://www.five.tv/programmes/victoriacross/interviews/ |title=Interviews |publisher=Victoria Cross Heroes |accessdate=2008-07-06]

Honours and awards

Unit awards

*Meritorious Unit Commendation (USA)
*Cross of Gallantry with Palm Unit Citation (South Vietnam)

References

* [http://www.frontiersmen.org.au/payne.htm Keith Payne, VC - Legion of Frontiersmen]
*The Last Eleven? (Mark Adkin, 1991)
*Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)

External links

* [http://www.aattv.iinet.net.au/payne.htm WOII K. Payne, VC] "AATTV Association - biography plus detailed action account".
* [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/663.asp Warrant Officer Class 2 Keith Payne, VC] "AWM Who’s who in Australian Military History".
* [http://www.australiansatwarfilmarchive.gov.au/aawfa/interviews/1328.aspx Interview with Keith Payne] "Australians at War Film Archive".
* [http://www.maryboroughmuseum.org/payne.html Keith Payne medal exhibit] "Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum".
** [http://www.maryboroughmuseum.org/images/keith2.jpgKeith and his medals]
** [http://www.maryboroughmuseum.org/images/medals_big.jpgCloser view of Keith's medals]
* [http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-vc/payne-vc.htm Payne VC] "biography with photographs of Payne and of the medals and clasps he has been awarded."