09/05/2026
🇺🇸 Welcome Home, Hero: Pvt. Duane Walter Payne 🇺🇸
Today, we stood with the family of Pvt. Duane Payne as they welcomed him home to Minnesota soil, more than 80 years after he was called Killed in Action.
Duane was born March 4, 1917, in Motley, Minnesota. A husband to Lorna, a father to three young children, a man who loved his family and loved to play guitar — Duane had built a life worth protecting. So when his country called, he answered, enlisting in the U.S. Army in February 1944.
He shipped to England, then landed in Normandy that June, joining Company L, 3rd Battalion, 117th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division. He fought bravely through the European Theater until he was wounded in Germany and reported Missing in Action on October 9, 1944. For one long year, his family waited and hoped — until word came that he had been Killed in Action, on that very same date, one year later.
Pvt. Payne gave everything. His courage earned him the Purple Heart, Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, and more — but his true legacy lives on in his grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and 14 great-great-grandchildren, who carry his name and his story forward.
Today, we honored him. Today, we said: welcome home, hero.
