Warrant Officer Keith Payne V.C.Print Page

The park commemorates Keith Payne, who lived in Stafford at the time of his Victoria Cross decoration in 1970. He was one of four servicemen awarded a Victoria Cross during the Vietnam conflict.

In May 1969 Payne 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. 

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