Puckapunyal Exhibition - Keith Payne VC AM and Flo Payne OAM
I had the privilege of coordinating, coinciding with Army's 125th Anniversary celebrations, an exhibition at the Army Base at Puckapunyal honouring the ongoing service and commitment of Keith Payne VC AM, and Flo Payne OAM. 'Pucka' was chosen as this was where Keith started his initial infantry training (subsequently serving in Korea, the Malayan conflict, and ultimately Vietnam). My involvement with the family was through my (late) father who was firm friends with Keith over many years of their respective Army careers.
I must also acknowledge the dedication and commitment of our 'Team' members who provided the inspiration and driving force behind the creative thinking for this event; some 20 months in the making. The same applies to our Chief of Army LTGEN Simon Stuart AO DSC and many staff members from both Army HQ and the Puckapunyal Military Area for making the event possible (our sincere thanks).
I've selected the following photos as providing an overview of the week's events (Photos are mine; Gerry's supplied and used with permission). It’s worth noting that Keith’s VC recognition was the only one (out of the 4 awarded) with just the Indigenous South Vietnamese soldiers participating in the action.
The occasion also celebrated the life and work of Flo Payne who's son Colin (also in attendance) described her as worthy of her own VC (with numerous Bars) for the work she did in keeping the family of 5 boys together throughout the turmoil of Keith's deployments and post-service PTSD episodes, publicly mentioned in a range of media and published books on Keith's life.
She is a true hero in her own right!
Wednesday, 11 March - Vietnam Veterans' Memorial - Seymour
The Vietnam Veterans' Commemorative Walk in Seymour—alphabetically, it lists the name of every Australian Serviceman (Navy, Army, Air Force) who served in Vietnam. There are no ranks associated with the names, with each service allocated its own section of the wall.
Not pictured; students from a number of the local schools attended, and Keith gave an 'address' to the assembled students and teachers.
Keith and Flo, with Local Vets at the Commemorative Walk. They accompanied Keith and Flo on a tour of the 'Walk' which also features a replica of the Long Tan cross and Gum Tree saplings planted in rows to simulate the Long Tan rubber plantation.
Myself with Gooloou (Left) and Owen (Right) at the Memorial Walk. I'll explain the significance of my tie further down.
As already mentioned, my connection with the Payne family is through my Father, a Vietnam Vet, whose medals I'm wearing RHS, and who was a very firm friend of Keith and Flo—more about Gooloou and Owen to follow.
It was Keith who (at my request) coordinated the funeral for my late Father who passed away in Mackay on Christmas Day, 1984.
Dad was only 51, a 'post-conflict' victim of the Vietnam War.
Thursday, 12 March - Puckapunyal Base Exhibition - held in the Base Chapel
Rear wall as seen from the entry door—Keith's close friends and family, including our Chief of Army and GEN; Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC are featured. Keith trained Sir Peter at Duntroon when he (Keith) was repatriated there as an Instructor, immediately following the VC action in Vietnam. Keith was wounded in the head and left hand, but that did not stop him from returning under cover of darkness to find and return over 40 of his company.
Far right (illuminated) is Gerry—who has his own photo and explanation further down.
RHS Wall—as seen from the entry door, talks about Keith's walk with the Indigenous NORFORCE community from the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. Owen and Gooloou can be seen pictured upper mid-left, and in the following photo below.
Their indigenous community did a lot of work with their traditional medicines and ceremonial activities to remediate Keith's PTSD.
Keith was instrumental in facilitating the award of Medal entitlements to members of Owen's and Gooloou's community who served with NORFORCE. While totally adept in bush-skills, survival, tracking, hidden observation, etc., negotiating the bureaucracy of applying for medals was a totally foreign language to them. The community revered Keith when they heard about his efforts in leading (and saving) the indigenous South Vietnamese Montagnards (Hill People) on the night action that saw him a recipient of the VC.
Owen and Gooloou are wearing the Red Headbands of 'Senior Lawmen' within their community. They have afforded Keith a symbolic honour of the same status in recognition of his actions and Keith wears his headband whenever they are together.
Centre behind Keith is (Retired) MAJ Mac Jensen who spent many years with NORFORCE and still has very close ties with the community. Mac is a close friend of Keith's and it was Mac who initiated the Medal process for the community and he (then) reached out to Keith for the support needed to bring about the medal approvals. Not an easy task, where for some recipients, all they had to go on were 'paybooks' when their paper records were lost in the transfer to 'digital medium. Mac travelled over from WA with Owen and Gooloou to be with Keith.
I mentioned the Tie I was wearing; Gooloou is a renown Indigenous artist and the Ties are based on one of his paintings. I was fortunate enough to be gifted the last remaining Tie by Mac (only 10 made). The artwork in the background is one of Gooloou's paintings sent down specifically for display at Puckapunyal.
Gooloou will be exhibiting his art at a date to be confirmed in Sydney later this year.
Ray Martin was the MC for the evening. Additional pieces of Gooloou's art can be seen at left of picture. Ray has known Keith and Flo for over 30 years and has produced a number of documentary's featuring Keith's work with (and support for) the holistic serving and veteran communities (both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous).
Gerry, who flew over from the US for this event, was Keith's Special Forces Medic. Recipient of the Silver Star, and Bronze Star with 'V' for Valour for respective actions with Keith at Ben Het and Bu Gia (5 weeks apart). He was struck by a mortar shell fragment immediately following the main Ben Het action and was lucky to survive.
Gerry performed an emergency 'field' tracheotomy on another US Special Forces team member (in the heat of battle) using Keith's combat knife; sadly, that member did not survive due to blood loss. Gerry also has an Oak Leaf cluster on his Bronze Star, which means a second award (what we call a 'Bar'). Keith and Gerry have remained firm friends ever since their service together in Vietnam.
Postscript
On the Friday Keith had lunch in one of the 'other ranks' messes on base; and then met (at the exhibition) with year 5 & 6 classes from a local primary school; followed by personnel under training from the School of Artillery. Keith describing to the serving members how tanks were run over their trenches and that they had lost 3 of his initial training course when live ammunition and live mortar rounds were 'standard' methods employed as part of their training back in-the-day.
Keith and Flo departed for Melbourne on the Saturday morning, with Saturday being an open day for all Army bases around Australia, many members of the public visited the exhibition over the course of the day. I personally spoke with a number of visitors who were moved to tears as the exhibition evoked memories of their own relatives who had also served in Vietnam.
