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| Vietnam Veteran Charles Payne/Photo by J. Lewter |
Junior-level journalism major Charles Payne probably isn’t
the only non-traditional student at Arkansas Tech who served in the Vietnam
War, but he is the only vet who fought
alongside world-famous musicians Johnny and June Cash.
Payne, who is originally from Belleville, AR, joined the
U.S. Air Force in 1967. He served three tours in Vietnam that stretched from
January of 1968 to January of 1971. It doesn’t bother Payne to talk about
Vietnam, although he laments, “We did horrible things.” Details of Payne’s time
spent abroad tend to blur together, but one day will stay forever crisp in his
mind: the day Johnny and June Cash came to perform for the troops. “They were
both wearing military green fatigues,” said Payne, explaining that this was
“SOP” (Standard Operating Procedure) for visitors to the base. Anyone wearing
civilian clothing marked their self as a target.
The base came under sapper attack by Viet Cong soldiers with
assault rifles later that night. “It happened all the time,” said Payne, who
mentioned that it was annoying. The attacks always came at night, so the
American troops would run to bunkers scattered around the base and fire their
weapons into the dark. “We never knew (if we hit anyone),” explained Payne.
That night, Johnny
and June were rushed to the hospital bunker “because that was the safest
place,” said Payne. That was also SOP for base visitors. Payne ran to a bunker
close to the hospital to help fight off the attackers. “Then ten or fifteen
minutes into (the fight), here comes Johnny with a M-16 he got from an injured
[soldier] in the hospital,” said Payne. Payne had been alone in his bunker
until Johnny showed up. “He didn’t feel right hiding while the rest of us were
fighting,” said Payne. Then, about ten minutes later, “here comes June (with a
M-16),” said Payne. Another injured soldier had been admitted to the hospital,
so June borrowed his gun and ran to the bunker to join her husband and Sergeant
Payne. He doesn’t remember everything Johnny and June said during the gun
fight, but he does remember June asking, “Where is the safety on this damn
thing?”
Payne, Johnny and June fired through the gun ports in the
bunker for the duration of the attack, which lasted about thirty or forty-five
minutes. Being the only soldier fighting with the high-profile singers “put the
pressure on,” said Payne. Thankfully none of the trio was injured.
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Since I rarely get
the opportunity to interview Vietnam veterans, I asked Mr. Payne about a bumper
sticker I once saw on an office door in the Nashville Capitol Building. It read
“Jane Fonda: Commie. Traitor. Bitch.”
Payne’s response was, “They were being nice.” He explained that Fonda
had toured a POW camp in Vietnam where Americans were being held. While Fonda
was apparently overseas protesting the war, she was photographed smiling and
clapping with Vietnamese soldiers while sitting on an anti-aircraft gun. Payne
seemed quite disgusted. He said he knew that some troops returning home from
the war were spit on by protestors, although he did not experience anything
like that. “I was from a small town. They were supportive,” he said.
