Sam could have gotten out a year earlier, but instead was sent to a training command. He gave the crew an option to ‘bail out’ over Tokyo Bay… I wouldn’t even think about it! I went and sat upfront with him. We had an engine shot out and there was a chance that we would not make it back. “We were coming back from a recognizance mission. He had a son almost as old as I was and that man looked after me like he’d look after his own son,” the judge declared. “My pilot was a very famous man - who retired as a general. Volunteering to be a gunner on a B-29, young Payne went in knowing there were a lot of planes being shot down but he was fortunate to meet up with “Flying Jack” LaForge. The Colonel called me and said, ‘You will write your mother every two weeks!’ – gave me an order.” “I didn’t write home often and my mother got a hold of the Air Force and was asking about me because they were losing a lot of planes - we had planes that were shot down. “She rode the bus downtown and went to mass every day to pray while I was over there,” Sam says. Payne found it hard to sign the waiver for her young son to join the Air Force at just 16 years old during the Korean War in 1950 - though she was sure to be a support to Sam the best way she knew how. I think policemen ought to be more respected to be honest with you,” Sam acknowledges. Those kids go out there every day with a flak jacket on, hoping to get through the day without getting killed. Thinking back to his childhood aspirations he says, “The first thing I wanted to be was probably a policeman - isn’t that crazy? They are the most underpaid people in the world for what they do. It went off and it scared my mother to death,” the judge laughs. “I slept outside one night and put the alarm clock in a dish pan so I would be sure to hear it. His first job was a newspaper route in which he had to wake up before dawn. Young Sam learned and upheld responsibility and he didn’t take it lightly. Was his father tough? He arched his brow carefully and affirms, “My dad was not real tough, but I had to mind him. The judge reveals that while growing up, his family had a tough time. Jamie my oldest sister, looked after us most of the time,” he pauses and adds “she still does!” The judge’s honesty juts through whenever he says something jokingly and it is apparent that he is only half-joking or being blatantly honest.
She put up with seven kids - with me included! That alone will probably get her a good seat in Heaven,” he quips - but without a smile.
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