Nearly 50 years since he rescued 40 men under fire in a bloody battle in Vietnam, Australia's oldest living Victoria Cross recipient is returning to the battlefield to search for the body of a fallen comrade.

The Victoria Cross It is the highest award for acts of bravery in wartime.

It is the highest award for acts of bravery in wartime. It was instituted in 1856 by Queen Victoria and made retrospective to 1854 to cover the Crimean War.

It was instituted in 1856 by Queen Victoria and made retrospective to 1854 to cover the Crimean War. The separate Australian VC was gazetted in 1991.

The separate Australian VC was gazetted in 1991. However the design remains identical to the original British medal.

Keith Payne VC will return later this month to highlands near the Cambodian and Laos borders where he earned Australia's highest military honour.

The 84-year-old Queenslander was on secondment to Special Forces during the Vietnam War when in May 1969 he rescued 40 fellow soldiers despite suffering numerous wounds during the Battle of Ben Het.

The battle was fought between 1,200 to 5,000 battle-hardened North Vietnamese Army troops, a handful of Australian and US Special Forces and 300 indigenous soldiers known as Montagnards.

His close friend, Green Beret Sergeant Anastacio Montez, was killed.

The 39-year-old American had his jaw shot off during the early stages of the battle and died some time later after being carried through mountainous terrain by his fellow soldiers

With enemy hot on their tail and more than 50 men to worry about, Warrant Officer Payne made the difficult decision to leave his body behind.

With the area heavily bombed by allied B-52 aircraft during the conflict and ravaged by bushfire since the end of the war, Sgt Montez's body has never been found.

US Special Forces Sergeant Anastacio Montez was killed at the Battle of Ben Het in 1969. ( Supplied: Courtesy of Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund )

Heart-wrenching decision to leave body

Mr Payne, who referred to Sgt Montez as "Monty", said the decision to leave him behind has haunted him.

A portrait of Warrant Officer Keith Payne taken in 1969. ( Supplied: Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial )

"Everything was a mess, I had a lot of casualties with me and I wasn't feeling brilliant myself," he said.

"Once he [Sgt Montez] passed away, I sought approval to leave the body and take all the rest of the wounded in.

"I was given that approval, but when it came down to it, it was my decision to either leave it or try and carry the body.

"We wouldn't have had anybody to carry the body. They were carrying enough wounded as it was."

Just 11 kilometres from the Cambodian border and 14km from Laos, the Special Forces base at Ben Het was of immense strategic importance to both sides in the war and was regularly under siege.

Mr Payne was commanding the 212th Company of the 1st Mobile Strike Force Battalion, while Sgt Montez was in charge of the 213th Company.

"When we were going up to the assault on the hill, he [Sgt Montez] had the right flank and I had the left flank," Mr Payne said.

"He was hit early in the action and was pulled out.



"We started to withdraw because the enemy were … it was pretty thick stuff."



Bloodied Payne hit early in battle

Mr Payne's company was isolated and surrounded on three sides.

A rocket-propelled grenade blew apart a tree and embedded a large splinter in the Australian's scalp, leaving blood streaming down his face throughout most of the fighting.

Queen Elizabeth II presents then-Warrant Officer Payne with the Victoria Cross in Brisbane in April 1970. ( Supplied: Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial )

He was blown off his feet by a mortar, wounded in the arm and hand, and a piece of shrapnel went through the magazine housing of his rifle rendering it useless.

He picked up another and kept firing and throwing grenades while organising his troops into a defensive perimeter.

"I wasn't touching the top of my head because I didn't know what the hell was up there," he said.

"What I didn't know didn't give me any worries.



"Once it was over and I found out it was a big lump of timber that went in there I was quite pleased about that. Although it left a bloody great big hole in my head."

Mr Payne spent three hours scouring the scene of the day's fight for isolated and wounded soldiers, all the while evading enemy troops.

He found some 40 wounded, brought some in himself and organised for the rescue of the others, leading the party back to base through enemy-dominated terrain.

Members of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam toasting the VCs of Keith Payne (4R) and Ray Simpson (3R). ( Supplied: Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial )

Medic to join search for missing comrade

Former US Special Forces Sergeant Gerard Dellwo, a medic who earned a Silver Star for gallantry at Ben Het, will join Mr Payne in his search.

Mr Dellwo, from Spokane in Washington State, is reuniting with his former company commander for one last try after a previously unsuccessful effort in 2010.

The pair will link up in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) before travelling to Ben Het, where Mr Payne and his wife Florence will mark their 63rd wedding anniversary on December 4.

Keith Payne VC also received the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star from the US and the Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star from Republic of Vietnam. ( Jarrod Lucas: ABC Goldfields-Esperance )

Mr Payne admits the chances of finding Sgt Montez's remains are virtually zero.

"We've done a lot more research since then (2010) … we've got all the map references now," he said.

"I can still picture the area we left him in even though it was dark that night.



"To go back and just get back onto the ridgeline where I left him and say goodbye. This will be the last time I'll ever get back."