A visit by Victoria Cross winner Keith Payne and his wife Flo to Kingscliff proved a good lead-in for this year’s 45th Anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.
The Battle and Vietnam Veterans’ Day will be officially marked at the cenotaph at Kingscliff on August 18 at 10.15am followed by lunch at the Cudgen Surf Club. Guest speaker will be Captain Simon Boxsell from Defence Force Recruiting.
Meanwhile Kingscliff High School students were able to hear first-hand about the Vietnam War, thanks to Keith and Flo Payne’s visit to the region. During their visit, Keith’s first agenda item was to attend the Kingscliff High School on July 26 to meet school captains Austen Horne and Codie Klein, along with the Principal Mr Allan Tolley and Deputy Principal Stuart Cutcher.
Keith then spoke to the student body, fielding questions prepared by the students, on his military service, before presenting a book on the Korean War to the student body for their library.
On Wednesday Keith and Flo attended a Dedication Service at the Murphy’s Road Memorial Walk. The latest plaque was dedicated to the Kingscliff RSL Women’s Auxiliary. They then moved on to the Cudgen Leagues Club where they toured RSL Rooms before Keith again answered questions about his military life.
Keith Payne was born at Ingham, Queensland, on August 30, 1933 and attended Ingham State School before becoming an apprentice cabinet-maker.
He joined the army in August 1951 and was posted to the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment in September 1950. 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, in December 1954, was promoted to corporal in 1955 and returned to operational duties when he joined the 3rd Battalion in February 1960.
Payne served in Malaya with this unit and, in 1965 as 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 February 24, 1969 he was appointed to the Australian Army Training Team in Vietnam.
Keith Payne earned his Victoria Cross following an incident in May 1969 when commanding the 212th Company of the 1st Mobile Strike Force Battalion.
The company was attacked by a strong North Vietnamese force. 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, 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 controlled terrain.
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.
In 2006 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his service to the veteran community.
