Warrant Officer (WO2) Keith PAYNE VC

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Victoria Cross
Australian Active Service Medal 1945-1975

Korea clasp
Malaysia clasp
Vietnam clasp
Thai-Malay clasp

Korea Service Medal
United Nations Medal Korea
General Service Medal 1962

Malay Peninsular clasp

Vietnam Service Medal
Australian Service Medal 1945-1975

Korea clasp
SE Asia clasp
PNG clasp

E II R Silver Jubilee Medal 1977
The Centenary Medal
The Defence Force Service Medal
The National Medal
The Meritorious Service Medal
The Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
The Distinguished Service Cross (USA )
The Silver Star (USA )
The (Vietnamese ) Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star
The Vietnam Campaign Medal

1960 bar

The Dhofar Campaign Medal
The Dhofar Victory Medal
E II R Golden Jubilee Medal 2002

Keith Payne was born at Ingham, Queensland, on 30 August 1933. 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 (1RAR) in September the following year.

Payne served with his unit in Korea between April 1952 and March 1953. He married Florence Plaw, a member of the Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC), in December 1954, was promoted to corporal the following year and returned to operational duties when he joined the 3rd Battalion (3 RAR) in February 1960.

Payne served in Malaya with this unit and in 1965, now a sergeant, he joined the 5th Battalion (5 RAR).

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 Battalion Pacific Islands Regiment (2 PIR).

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 (AATTV).

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. Years later, asked whether he was afraid, Payne replied, “My God yes, yes, I was.”

Payne’s actions that night earned him the Victoria Cross. 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 (RMC) as an instructor.

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.

Keith Payne
He received the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star from the United States and the Republic of Vietnam awarded Payne the Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star.

He 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.

Payne returned to Australia and became active in the veteran community, particularly in counseling sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder. Payne and his wife raised five sons and are now living at Mackay in Queensland.

Hat/Beret badge of the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces from the 1970s.

The badge features the Omani Khanjar (dagger) and crossed Kattara (swords)

CITATION: On 24th May 1969, in Kon Tum Province Warrant Officer Payne was Commanding 212th Company of 1st Mobile Strike Force Battalion when the battalion was attacked by a North Vietnamese force of superior strength. The enemy isolated the two leading companies, one of which was Warrant Officer Payne's, and with heavy mortar and rocket support assault their position from three direction simultaneously.

Under this heavy attack the Indigenous soldiers began to fall back. Directly exposing himself to the enemy's fire, Warrant Officer Payne, through his own efforts, temporarily held off the assaults by alternately firing his weapon and running from position to position collecting grenades and throwing them at the assaulting enemy. While doing this he was wounded in the hands and arms. Despite his outstanding efforts the indigenous soldiers gave way under the enemy's increased pressure and the Battalion Commander, together with several advisers and a few soldiers, withdrew.

A recent photo of Payne VC

Paying no attention to his wounds and under extremely heavy enemy fire Warrant Officer Payne covered his withdrawal by again throwing grenades and firing his own weapon at the enemy who were attempting to follow up. Still under fire, he then ran across exposed ground to head off his own troops who were withdrawing in disorder. He successfully stopped them and organised the remnants of his and the second company into a temporary defensive perimeter by nightfall.

Having achieved this, Warrant Officer Payne of his own accord and at great personal risk, moved out of the perimeter into the darkness alone in an attempt to find the wounded and other indigenous soldiers. Some had been left on the position and others were scattered in the area. Although the enemy were still occupying the previous position, Warrant Officer Payne, with complete disregard for his own life, crawled back to it and extricated several wounded soldiers. He then continued to search the area, in which the enemy were also moving and firing, for some three hours.

He finally collected forty lost soldiers, some of whom had been wounded and returned with his group to the temporary defensive perimeter he had left, only to find that the remainder of the battalion had moved back. Undeterred by this set back and personally assisting the seriously wounded American adviser he led the group through the enemy to the safety of his battalion base. His sustained and heroic personal efforts in this action were outstanding and undoubtedly saved the lives of a large number of his indigenous soldiers and several of his fellow advisers.

Warrant Officer Payne's repeated acts of exceptional personal bravery and unselfish conduct in this operation were an inspiration to all Vietnamese, United States and Australian soldiers who served with him. His conspicuous gallantry was in the highest tradition of the Australian Army.