| Copyright 2008 Elk River Harmonicas |
More Tracks Coming
Soon!
Soon!
Lonesome Road Blues (2007)
Cecil Payne, the early years-
vocal and guitar, 1950
vocal and guitar, 1950
I Love You a Thousand Ways
The Day I First Met You
There's a lot of folks who would give anything to have
a recording of their grandfather playing, I'm extremely
lucky to have two tracks of mine recorded in 1950.
Sometime in the mid 1990s, my father rescued this
old 78 grandpa recorded back in the Fifties from
being thrown out. The record was no good, it was
warped so badly, the needle would get airborne on
every revolution and the noise was so bad, there was
simply no audio to hear, plus the record skipped all
over the place.
Dad pressed the record back into shape using boards
and C clamps, he spent days cleaning dirt from the
grooves, wore out who knows how many crayons with
the old crayon trick, recorded the record onto his
computer using the weight of eight quarters to keep
the 78 needle in the groove and took out most of the
noise with a computer program. The result of those
weeks of painstaking work are the two tracks you
hear above, "I Love You a Thousand Ways" and "The
Day I First Met You."
Once again, I consider myself very lucky to have
those.
a recording of their grandfather playing, I'm extremely
lucky to have two tracks of mine recorded in 1950.
Sometime in the mid 1990s, my father rescued this
old 78 grandpa recorded back in the Fifties from
being thrown out. The record was no good, it was
warped so badly, the needle would get airborne on
every revolution and the noise was so bad, there was
simply no audio to hear, plus the record skipped all
over the place.
Dad pressed the record back into shape using boards
and C clamps, he spent days cleaning dirt from the
grooves, wore out who knows how many crayons with
the old crayon trick, recorded the record onto his
computer using the weight of eight quarters to keep
the 78 needle in the groove and took out most of the
noise with a computer program. The result of those
weeks of painstaking work are the two tracks you
hear above, "I Love You a Thousand Ways" and "The
Day I First Met You."
Once again, I consider myself very lucky to have
those.
| My grandpa, left, with his mom, great-grandma Dixie (Butler) Payne, my dad (eating from a box of Grandma Dixie's Sugar Smacks) and his dad, Charlie Payne, in the late 1950s. Grandpa Charlie died before I was born. The only thing I remember about Grandma Dixie was her cooked strawberries and dog Trixie. |
EIGHT UNITED STATES ARMY
APO 301, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
GENERAL ORDERS 11 October 1953
NUMBER 923
AWARD OF THE DISTINGUISHED UNIT CITATION
By direction of the President, under the provisions of Executive Order 9396 (Sec I, WD Bul 11,1942) superseding
Executive Order 9075(Sec III, WD Bul 11,1942), and pursuant to authority in AR 220-315, the following units are cited
as public evidence of deserved honor and distinction.
COMPANY A, 5TH INFANTRY REGIMENT, 5TH REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM and the following attached units:
FIRST SECTION, MACHINE GUN PLATOON PLATOON, COMPANY D, 5TH INFANTRY REGIMENT, 5TH REGIMENTAL
COMBAT TEAM
FORWARD OBSERVER TEAM, 555TH FIELD ARTILLERY BATTALION, 5TH REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM
distinguished themselves by extraordinary heroism in performance of exceptionally difficult tasks in the vicinity of
Songnae-Dong, Korea. On the morning of 12 June 1953, these units relieved other United Nations forces defending
a vital outpost and successfully withstood five separate attacks by overwhelming enemy forces during the next
twenty-four hours. After earlier mass attacks had been halted by combined defensive fires, the hostile element
attacked under a tremendous artillery and mortar barrage during the evening and gained a foothold on the right
flank of the position. Refusing to withdraw, the United Nations units closed in hand-to-hand combat and destroyed
the enemy forces. After an artillery barrage, waves of enemy troops assaulted both the right and the left flanks of
the outpost but were again annihilated. In a final effort another onslaught of hostile forces charged against both the
front and the flanks of the United Nations forces and again succeeded in entering the trenches. The courageous
defenders launched a series of counterattacks, routed the enemy and restored the position. The complete devotion
to duty and outstanding courage exhibited by the members of COMPANY A and the attached units in hand-to-hand
combat were instrumental in the successful defense of the key position. The magnificent fighting sprit of these
organizations reflects great credit on themselves and the military service.
BY COMMAND OF GENERAL TAYLOR
PAUL D. HAWKINS
Major General, General Staff
Chief of Staff
OFFICAL
/s/ R. G. Platt
/t/ R. G. Platt
LtCol, AGC
Asst AG
Orders corrected November 29, 2002, by Department of the Army Military Awards Branch per letter from Lt. Col.
Robert L. White, Chief, Military Awards Branch.
A future Department of the Army General Order will amend General Orders Number 1 of January 7, 1954 to reflect
the above.
GENERAL ORDERS NO. 9 DATED 18 NOVEMBER 2005
XIV—DISTINGUISHED UNIT CITATION—AMENDMENT. So much of Section I, Department of the Army General Order 1,
dated 7 January 1954, pertaining to the award of the Distinguished Unit Citation is amended to add:
2d Squad, 2d Section Machine Gun Platoon
3d Squad, 2d Section Machine Gun Platoon
5th Squad, 2d Section Machine Gun Platoon
7th Squad, 2d Section Machine Gun Platoon
Recoilless Rifle Platoon
Forward Observers, 81 MM Mortar Platoon, Company D, 5th Regimental Combat Team
APO 301, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
GENERAL ORDERS 11 October 1953
NUMBER 923
AWARD OF THE DISTINGUISHED UNIT CITATION
By direction of the President, under the provisions of Executive Order 9396 (Sec I, WD Bul 11,1942) superseding
Executive Order 9075(Sec III, WD Bul 11,1942), and pursuant to authority in AR 220-315, the following units are cited
as public evidence of deserved honor and distinction.
COMPANY A, 5TH INFANTRY REGIMENT, 5TH REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM and the following attached units:
FIRST SECTION, MACHINE GUN PLATOON PLATOON, COMPANY D, 5TH INFANTRY REGIMENT, 5TH REGIMENTAL
COMBAT TEAM
FORWARD OBSERVER TEAM, 555TH FIELD ARTILLERY BATTALION, 5TH REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM
distinguished themselves by extraordinary heroism in performance of exceptionally difficult tasks in the vicinity of
Songnae-Dong, Korea. On the morning of 12 June 1953, these units relieved other United Nations forces defending
a vital outpost and successfully withstood five separate attacks by overwhelming enemy forces during the next
twenty-four hours. After earlier mass attacks had been halted by combined defensive fires, the hostile element
attacked under a tremendous artillery and mortar barrage during the evening and gained a foothold on the right
flank of the position. Refusing to withdraw, the United Nations units closed in hand-to-hand combat and destroyed
the enemy forces. After an artillery barrage, waves of enemy troops assaulted both the right and the left flanks of
the outpost but were again annihilated. In a final effort another onslaught of hostile forces charged against both the
front and the flanks of the United Nations forces and again succeeded in entering the trenches. The courageous
defenders launched a series of counterattacks, routed the enemy and restored the position. The complete devotion
to duty and outstanding courage exhibited by the members of COMPANY A and the attached units in hand-to-hand
combat were instrumental in the successful defense of the key position. The magnificent fighting sprit of these
organizations reflects great credit on themselves and the military service.
BY COMMAND OF GENERAL TAYLOR
PAUL D. HAWKINS
Major General, General Staff
Chief of Staff
OFFICAL
/s/ R. G. Platt
/t/ R. G. Platt
LtCol, AGC
Asst AG
Orders corrected November 29, 2002, by Department of the Army Military Awards Branch per letter from Lt. Col.
Robert L. White, Chief, Military Awards Branch.
A future Department of the Army General Order will amend General Orders Number 1 of January 7, 1954 to reflect
the above.
GENERAL ORDERS NO. 9 DATED 18 NOVEMBER 2005
XIV—DISTINGUISHED UNIT CITATION—AMENDMENT. So much of Section I, Department of the Army General Order 1,
dated 7 January 1954, pertaining to the award of the Distinguished Unit Citation is amended to add:
2d Squad, 2d Section Machine Gun Platoon
3d Squad, 2d Section Machine Gun Platoon
5th Squad, 2d Section Machine Gun Platoon
7th Squad, 2d Section Machine Gun Platoon
Recoilless Rifle Platoon
Forward Observers, 81 MM Mortar Platoon, Company D, 5th Regimental Combat Team
Here the Presidential Unit Citation that was awarded my grandpa's unit in Korea, Company A,
5th Infantry Regiment, 5th Regimental Combat team by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953.
The odd part about this is grandpa knew in 1953 that his unit had been put in for a presidential citation, but nobody bothered to tell
him that Eisenhower had actually awarded it. I found a copy of it and sent it to him and apologized on behalf of the late President
Eisenhower for the late notification.
5th Infantry Regiment, 5th Regimental Combat team by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953.
The odd part about this is grandpa knew in 1953 that his unit had been put in for a presidential citation, but nobody bothered to tell
him that Eisenhower had actually awarded it. I found a copy of it and sent it to him and apologized on behalf of the late President
Eisenhower for the late notification.
The Cecil Payne Page
Member of Clendenin
Lodge, 126, A.F.&
A.M., Grand Lodge of
West Virginia
| Cecil Payne, Company A, 5th Regimental Combat Team, Punchbowl, Korea, Korean War, 1953 |
| Cecil Payne |
| Presidential Unit Citation |
Greg Vincent and Grandpa, 2007
Cecil Payne on
the mandolin, 2007
the mandolin, 2007
Recent tracks, Cecil Payne
on the mandolin
on the mandolin
| Cecil Payne as a boy in Roane County, W.Va., a young man with transportation. |
| Grandpa with Grandma Barbara Ann Payne and my dad, Greg, here two years old, in 1957. They were living in Cleveland at the time. |
| Cecil Payne Founder of the Payne family music tradition. The men in my family, my muscially-gifted dad, me and now my up-and-coming six-year-old son David II (plus my seven-year-old daughter, Audrey) have a love of playing music, there's one reason for that, my grandpa, Cecil Payne. He's also, I suppose, the founder of the Payne family masonic tradition, he, my father and I are all master masons. More than six decades after serving with the 5th Regimental Combat Team in Korea (his unit Co. A earned a Presidential Unit Citation from Dwight Eisenhower), he still spit-polishes his boots like he did in the Army. That's who he is. I remember well the day I decided I would seriously study music. I was a teenager, had been playing harmonica for years and had just started to pick up the mandolin. I went with grandpa to a music store in Birch River, a 90-minute drive away and the store was the size of a living room. He'd not owned a mandolin for years, but he took a Gibson F5 down from the wall and I was awestruck as he played some Bill Monroe licks that were, at the time, the funkiest stuff I'd ever heard on any instrument. He said "This one will do," and the mandolin sat between us on the ride home. I also remember several months later when I played "Nine Pound Hammer" for him. I thought I'd done something great, but when I finished, his words were "If you ain't got timing, you ain't got ...." I learned more in those few minutes with grandpa than I learned in three years of band. After that, I was absolutely paranoid about time enough that I developed a good sense of time. I've often thought about what makes a Cecil Payne mandolin lead what it is, I've tried to apply some of that to the harmonica, the only instrument I can play well enough to get "Cecil Payne" on. Cecil Payne is a snapshot of what Bluegrass was in its infancy, when Bill Monroe alone was its driving force. There's old-time in there, but its set apart by a hard-driving beat with the accuracy of an atomic clock and the flatted notes that makes blues sound like the blues. Cecil Payne is bluegrass before it lost its blue. Dave Payne Sr. |
| Here's grandpa, with my dad, right (he still has this Martin D28), and uncle Gary, left, in the late 1960s, at their home on Clendenin Hill, Clendenin, W.Va. |
Elk River
Harmonicas
Dave Payne Sr., owner
Harmonicas
Dave Payne Sr., owner
Welcome to
The complete Seydel line and home of the Elk River Special
Grandpa Cecil Payne And Dave Payne Sr.
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