[Annotator's Note: The interview begins mid-conversation.] Robert Payne was born in February 1924 in Wichita Falls, Texas. He graduated from high school and went to Princeton University [Annotator's Note: in Princeton, New Jersey]. While Payne was at Princeton on 7 December 1941, the Japanese started the war [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. At Princeton, Payne joined an ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] unit in field artillery, horse-drawn. There would be a team of horses with a caisson with the shells, and then a gun. He was out riding on the day the Japanese attacked. His ROTC unit was studying and having field exercises. They did that for several years and trained in an ASTP [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program] unit. They went into the service as a group and were very close friends. They all were Corporals when they left Princeton. They went to Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. A group of them decided to go into the field artillery. Two of them went into the flying end of it. The Piper Cub [Annotator's Note: Piper J-3 Cub light observation aircraft] was a combat vehicle with a pilot and observer who would communicate with the ground forces. The observer would select the target and radio down to the artillery for firing. The artillery would also be coordinated with the infantry.

Robert Payne's father was a flyer in World War 1. He had his own biplane after the war, and they would fly together. After he graduated as an officer, he found a great opportunity to fly for the service. He went to Fort Sill [Annotator's Note: in Lawton, Oklahoma]. In those days, you learned to fly and then trained for combat. His flying was always associated with the ground artillery. He was deferred from college until after war. He entered the military because he loved it and was lucky to be already at Princeton [Annotator's Note: Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey] and in the artillery. There was a lot of camaraderie from the group at Princeton. He was shipped overseas in 1945 to England on RMS Queen Elizabeth. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne [Annotator's Note: 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, 101st Airborne Division], which had already jumped into Europe. They had previously been at Bastogne [Annotator's Note: Bastogne, Belgium] and Payne was there to replace their observer who had been shot down. The 101st was about 10,000 men. The field artillery was assigned to a particular infantry regiment. He was assigned to the 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion. When he arrived, the unit had already attained an illustrious record. His battalion had come up separately from the 101st and joined them there. The combined group was on the Rhine River in Belgium.

Robert Payne was at the Rhine [Annotator's Note: Rhine River] for about three weeks. His job was to fly observation across the river, and direct artillery. The 101st Airborne [Annotator's Note: 101st Airborne Division] started to get separated into various battle groups. As a parachute unit, it did not have tanks. They had no real means of support with trucks other than what was in the field artillery unit [Annotator's Note: Payne was an aerial forward observer in the 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, 101st Airborne Division]. They were outside of Cologne, Germany [Annotator's Note: Köln, Germany]. They were ordered down to Southern Germany and Austria. They had an airfield where the Germans had been training their pilots in gliders. They had fun there. The war in Germany was basically over. They stayed there for a long time. The 101st was scheduled to jump into Japan, so they continued their exercises. Payne became interested more in what was going to happen over there. He was sent to Le Havre [Annotator's Note: Le Havre, France] for shipment back to the United States. He was transferred to the 82nd Airborne [Annotator's Note: 82nd Airborne Division]. He came to New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] and a big parade. The 101st had been disbanded. The real veterans, most of them, had enough points that they were out of the service. Payne had visions of staying in the Army. The war ended and he continued in the Reserves. He flew a Piper Cub [Annotator's Note: Piper J-3 Cub light observation aircraft] wherever he wanted to. He returned to school after the war and got his degree in late 1945 from Princeton University [Annotator's Note: in Princeton, New Jersey]. [Annotator's Note: The interview is paused for a moment.]

Robert Payne was in college during the war. He was following the course of the war. He was in ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] and they were all ready. He knew that artillery would be important more in Europe than in Japan. He first attempted to join the military when he was about 16. He later wanted to go to West Point [Annotator's Note: United States Military Academy, West Point, New York] but flunked. Then he switched to the Navy and did not have the eyesight. He was demoralized at the time. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer reads the report the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland prepared on Payne regarding his physical disqualification and Payne laughs.] It was a blow to experience that. It turned out to be fortuitous. His interest came from his father. His father was in Texas after growing up in the state of Washington. He lived in Fort Worth and joined the Army Air Corps in World War 1. After that war, his father went to work in an oil field outside of Wichita Falls [Annotator's Note: Wichita Falls, Texas]. He was very successful in the oil business. Payne flew with him as a kid in his own plane. Payne just loved it and his father. Payne was fortunate to be in artillery and flying. Later, Payne wanted to show his father how they landed in short fields. They rented a plane and Payne landed it hard. His father laughed and laughed and then would kid him about it every year.

Robert Payne was in Pittsburg, Kansas in 1944 in flight training. It was a small town. What they were doing was well known. They were having a good time. There was a college with mostly girls since most of the boys were off to war. He will always remember Pittsburg, Kansas. [Annotator's Note: Payne laughs.] He was looking at a long war in Japan and looking ultimately to going there. When Payne was training with the artillery, he had a little trouble with the horses. He had decided that when he went to Princeton [Annotator's Note: Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey] he would pretend he had a big ranch in Texas. He wore cowboy boots and a big hat. The nickname "Tex" was stuck to him right away. It was all horse-drawn [Annotator's Note: the artillery]. Horses in front, then the caisson, and then the guns. He was terrified and nervous around horses. They were learning to ride in a small armory. On opening day, everyone volunteered him to lead the team of horses. He was terrified and had to go off and vomit. [Annotator's Note: Payne laughs.] Later on, he was in New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] with his wife and called for a taxi. The driver asked him if he was from Texas. They said yes, and he asked them if they knew his buddy Tex Payne. This was a Princeton graduate driving the taxi. It was Payne's friend Bud Schill [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling].

Robert Payne graduated OCS [Annotator's Note: Officer Candidate School] as a Second Lieutenant and his father gave him his set [Annotator's Note: of lieutenant's bars] from World War 1. [Annotator's Note: Payne gets quiet, they change the tape, and the interviewer reads from a letter Payne wrote to his mother during training in August 1943 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.] Payne had a struggle choosing which service to enter. He had so much training in the Army while at Princeton [Annotator's Note: Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey]. If he had chosen to go in the Army Air Forces, he would have had to spend so much more time training, so he chose Army. He wanted to serve in the war before it ended. After he failed the exam at the Naval Academy [Annotator's Note: United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland] due to his eyesight, he was not sure he would qualify. He never flew anything other than Cubs [Annotator's Note: Piper J-3 Cub light observation aircraft]. He went to England aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth. He was only there a couple of months and all he could do was go down to Piccadilly [Annotator's Note: Piccadilly Circus, London, England]. He was interested in knowing what he was going to do. He was moving from one replacement depot to another. He was in London when chosen. The 101st [Annotator's Note: 101st Airborne Division] had received the Presidential Unit Citation just a day or two before he arrived. His battalion, the 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, was an independent unit. It had jumped into Southern France and moved up to Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] before it joined the 101st. They had their pride too and it continued after the war with many reunions. He was close friends with his colonel, and they remained so after the war.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Robert Payne about friction between the officers of his 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and the 101st Airborne Division.] They were pleased to be with the 101st Airborne but they [Annotator's Note: 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion] felt a little more independent. They had fought their way up from Southern France by themselves and they had a lot of pride. They respected the 101st for what it had done in Normandy [Annotator's Note: Normandy, France]. He will always remember the night he joined the 101st. He arrived late in the afternoon. It was dark when he checked in and was shown to his two-man tent. He found his tent-mate was in bed with a woman. Payne began flying near the Rhine [Annotator's Note: Rhine River] over into Germany. By that time, Germany had been thoroughly bombed and Cologne [Annotator's Note: Köln, Germany] was a ghost town. A person not flying did not see the destruction in overview. He could see patrols going back and forth at night and he would give instructions back to the troops. Once, he and his observer were flying and he failed to watch the gas gauge and had to land in no-man's land [Annotator's Note: an area of unoccuppied ground between the static positions of oppossing forces]. He hit a pole and crashed. The plane was demolished. His observer sent him letters reminding him of it after the war.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Robert Payne if it was hard to stick his neck out in combat when the war was winding down in the spring of 1945.] That did not occur to Payne. Flying was a thrill a minute for him. He would see the streams of American bombers going overhead. He also saw American fighters every day. The 101st [Annotator's Note: 101st Airborne Division] had an air section. The battalions all had a one or two spotter planes. They all landed at one place where the commanding general was, and always stayed together. They would commandeer beautiful buildings and tell the occupants to leave. Payne always had beautiful accommodations with German servants. They were not close to the front, three or four miles off. As an observer, the mission might just be reconnoitering a target. The ground forces knew what they had to face. The artillery needed to know where to shoot effectively. The ground troops were engaged and would relay what the target was. They would also look for targets of opportunity. The people on the ground knew where the problems were. When a division can get together and fire for effect, it is awesome. Payne would change observers from time to time. He would have maps to know where everyone was. Typically, there would be an artillery target. They would have one gun that would determine the appropriate target. It would be synchronized with the other guns. His particular battalion [Annotator's Note: 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, 101st Airborne Division] did not join in the fire-for-effect operations as they did not have the distance with the guns they had.

One night the battalion [Annotator's Note: 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, 101st Airborne Division] was bombed. Robert Payne was a sound sleeper and slept right through it. He was not shot at closely that he knows of. The Free French were very friendly and did a very important job. The other French were so-so, but they liked American money. An advantage of flying his own little plane, was that he could go fly in and barter for eggs and things. The Germans were not smiling much but were very friendly. The Germans were very well-organized and busy, more so than the French. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Payne about flying a message to the Russian Army.] Close to Berchtesgaden [Annotator's Note: Berchtesgaden, Germany] was the first time Payne worked closely with the Russians. He had to take a message to them. They were courteous. They spoke very little English. There would be generally someone around who knew some English. They certainly knew English better than any of the Americans knew Russian.

Robert Payne went to one concentration camp and it was as has been described. He never saw any Americans who had been captured. The camp was organized but the people were fairly well treated [Annotator's Note: he is talking about prisoner of war camps]. There was not a lot of discussion about the treatment of the Jews. They were aware of the camps and the brutality, but they did not talk a lot about it. [Annotator's Note: Someone off camera reminds Payne of things he wanted to talk about.] After the war had ended in Europe, they were located south of Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France]. His unit [Annotator's Note: 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, 101st Airborne Division] was going to jump into Japan. They were in Joigny [Annotator's Note: Joigny, France]. The brass loved to go to Paris and did not want to go by automobile. They would order Payne and the other pilots to fly them to Paris. It took him about one hour to fly it. The senior officers had very good quarters. Payne would be off for the day then. They would land within blocks of the Eiffel Tower at a little French airfield. It was lot of fun to follow orders those days. [Annotator's Note: One crew person gets up to quiet some people being heard off camera.]

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer reads a list of things Robert Payne has written about.] Robert Payne was in Southern Germany and observed some German aircraft that had not been destroyed. They were interested in how the planes looked and operated. They closely examined what they were doing. They [Annotator's Note: the Germans] were well ahead of us [Annotator's Note: the United States] in terms of design than the Americans were. They just could not manufacture them. Payne flew a German Stork [Annotator's Note: Fieseler Fi 156 Storch light observation aircraft]. Everyone was interested in bringing home souvenirs. They would loot any equipment they could find. He took a lot of pictures with his own camera. He made many trips into the bunker [Annotator's Note: Eagle's Nest, Berchtesgaden, Germany] and has pictures of what it really looked like. That town had really been bombed. He could also see everything from the air. He was in a French town and the people were persnickety. He felt the French were not really pushing hard as far as the war was concerned. Payne was on a football team of the 101st [Annotator's Note: 101st Airborne Division]. He severely strained his leg and he wound up in a hospital for three weeks.

Since they had bonded together in a single place at a single airfield in Germany, Robert Payne and friends continued with reunions. At a reunion of the 101st [Annotator's Note: 101st Airborne Division] in Nevada, he got together with the surviving pilots of his initial group and made their first reunion after the war. People started dying off. There is only one besides Payne left. The friendship meant a lot. They were a great group of guys who did a lot more than he did. They had a common love for each other and great memories together. For Payne, the war was a great experience that he will never forget. Coming from Tyler, Texas to see a foreign land was great. The war focused his brain on common effort with a lot of people that were bound together and had a great affection for each other. [Annotator's Note: The interview ends with them all looking at different photographs.]