One fateful night, Keith Payne saved 40 lives. Now he's calling for help to save others
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In the backyard of his North Queensland home, Keith Payne grows rows of shrubs that are dripping with hundreds of small, fiery chillies. The former soldier doesn't eat them himself — they're too spicy for him. Instead he takes them down to the local markets and gives them away to Mackay's south-east Asian community. It's a simple act of kindness that speaks volumes about a man who has dedicated so much of his life to public service. Keith Payne receiving his Victoria Cross from Queen Elizabeth in 1970.(Supplied: Australian War Memorial) Mr Payne was in his mid-30s when he was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery during the Vietnam War. Now 90, he's the last living Vietnam War recipient of the prestigious medal, awarded to him for acts of extreme bravery. Keith Payne VC struggles with memories of the night his battalion was surrounded and attacked by North Vietnamese forces.(ABC News: Mark Leonardi) In 1969, while under enemy attack — and injured himself — he saved the lives of 40 wounded soldiers during the battle of Ben Het. Like so many who have seen the horrors of war, he doesn't like to talk about it, but spoke to the ABC about being ambushed that fateful night. According to the Australian War Memorial, Warrant Officer Keith Payne was leading the 212th Company of the 1st Mobile Strike Force Battalion when his men were surrounded on three sides by North Vietnamese troops. Keith Payne was commended for his bravery after his battalion was surrounded by a North Vietnamese force in May 1969.(Supplied: Australian War Memorial) "We were holding them, using grenades, and there was rifle fire and machine gun fire … but it just got too heavy because the enemy started to close in on our right flank, so we had to withdraw," Mr Payne recalled. "The last two people off the hill were my American medic, Jerry Dellwo, and myself. "Jerry lost his med bag [and] he wanted to go back and get it. I used a few [expletives] and let him know a dead medic with a med bag was no good to me. I decided from there I'd try to get some of the wounded off the hill." Mr Payne was wounded as the battle unfolded, but it didn't stop him. "I bumped into two of the enemy — we engaged, but I got out and went to the bottom of the hill. The whole factor now remained that the wounded and everybody had to damned well move. So, I got them moving, the enemy fire stopped, so I was able to move closer up a ridge line with all the wounded and the medics." Speaking to the ABC ahead of Anzac Day, Mr Payne remains humble about his actions that day. Mr Payne said he's finally learned how to live with the horrors of war.(ABC News: Mark Leonardi.) "Pride is not mine. Pride is mine for the people that were with me on that night," he said from his Mackay home. "I was Johnny on the spot, and I think I had probably the most training and was the most capable there of doing what had to be done. "I was being careful, I was planning all the time, I had too much to think about to be frightened." Yet the horrors of that night followed him home from Vietnam. He tried to settle back into family life, but suffered terribly from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). "Time went by and I'm starting to feel sort of lost and I was a bit of a bloody menace in the house, and the family weren't too appreciative of my actions," he said. Mr Payne said the PTSD has never left him; he's just learned how to manage it. "I still have it … nobody who's ever had post-traumatic stress will ever get away from it." It's a sentiment echoed by Florence Payne, his wife of 70 years. Florence Payne said Keith still suffers from PTSD from the war, which has been difficult to manage over the years.(ABC News: Mark Leonardi) "I think once you've got it, you never really lose it. Little things will crop up and all of a sudden it will come to the fore. It's not a very nice thing to live with, I can assure anybody," she said. "If our love for one another wasn't as strong as it is, I probably wouldn't have lasted." The experience has led Keith Payne to dedicate his post-army life to supporting veterans suffering from mental health issues. Despite greater awareness and understanding of PTSD, Mr Payne warns little has changed since his day. "All the generations, two world wars, all the campaigns … and nothing has been done to try to calm, cure to [a] certain extent, people with post-traumatic stress and get them back into the workforce," he said. "[Sufferers] are waiting for somebody to do something and … it overcomes them and they take it upon themselves to finish life and that's wrong. "We can't let it go [on for] another generation." Ray Simpson VC (left) celebrates Keith Payne's award for bravery in September 1969.(Supplied: Australian War Memorial.) Despite being in his 90s, Mr Payne is still working to ensure more support for returning veterans and it was for this work was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2015. As he prepares to mark another Anzac Day, Mr Payne reflected on why the day is so important for veterans. "Anzac Day to all veterans is a day for them to remember, to celebrate the fact that they have made it home," he said. "[It] is a day for Australia to remember the veterans, the people who gave their lives for the nation, fought for the nation. "God bless them."An act of heroism
'I was a bit of a bloody menace'
Call for greater action on PTSD