Later Life
Payne retired from the Australian 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. Payne and his wife raised five sons and are now living in Mackay, Queensland. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his service to the veteran community in 2006. In September 2012 he became a Patron of the Victoria Cross Trust.
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Famous quotes containing the word life:
““O life of this our Spring! why fades the lotus of the water?
Why fade these children of the Spring,born but to smile and fall?”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“For the soldier of time, it breathes a summer sleep,
In which his wound is good because life was.
No part of him was ever part of death.
A woman smoothes her forehead with her hand
And the soldier of time lies calm beneath that stroke.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)