December 11, 1948
Father of three
Retired Human Resources Manager-REI-Romeo
Davis/Romeo, Michigan born and raised
Meet Frank Payne
Frank “Spanky” Payne and his buddies were drinking beer as they watched the draft lottery unfold on December 1, 1969 in their rented apartment. Payne recalls his buddies numbers as “200, one was 225 so then I’m 13.” Aint’ that lucky? Growing up in the small town of Davis and graduating from Romeo High School, he never imagined, even after volunteering his draft, he’d end up on the ground in Vietnam. His brother Ben returned from Vietnam in 1968, also a draftee and a changed man, and he couldn’t see himself in that same situation. But, to Vietnam he went in 1970.
Payne, who is also close to my heart as my sister-in-law’s dad, like the others has also never talked much about his time in Vietnam. This double Purple Heart fought in the thick of it; weeks out in the bush at a time, carrying the 60-gun ammo right up by the point man, he’s seen things most can’t fathom. He decided to open up and the stories poured out, stories he’d stashed away in the darkest corners of his memory and memorabilia that sat gathering dust for years. His stories are despairing, funny and humbly heroic anecdotes of surviving a war he was called, but didn’t really want to fight at the “old age” of 21.
These days...
After his second shrapnel wound, Payne was called to the rear and ran resupply missions for the rest of his tour. He felt safer with his new gig, except on the first mission, the pilot received a bullet wound in the rear-end through the bottom of the Huey. He made it back to the States, however, and did his final stint at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he ran a little “hotel” that accommodated General Westmoreland and other high ranking world military leaders. Lt. William Calley, known for his role in the My Lai massacre, remained at Fort Benning while Payne was there, both were part of the Americal Division, although served in-country at different times.
Eventually, Payne married his wife Loretta and they are still married. They live in Romeo, in the home they raised three children and love to travel, especially in their new bus of a camper. It took decades for Payne to really discuss the war, but after he said it was actually fun and enjoyed talking about it.