Lieutenant-Colonel Leige Payne
Irish Regiment of Canada

Apparently “Lest We Forget” only pertains to one day of the year, Nov 11. I refer to the shabby treatment afforded the late Lt-Col. Lee Payne by Sunnybrook. Lee Payne was a soldier Canada should be proud of. He rose from the ranks of the Irish Regiment to become its commander, an achievement few can lay claim to. I had the privilege of serving with him and knowing him … Who cares whether or not he was entitled to treatment?

(Ernie Newman, Toronto Star, 6 Jan 1958, 6)

Born in Winnipeg on 3 September 1914, Leige Clifford Harry Payne worked in the yarn business and enlisted as a private in the Irish Regiment of Canada in 1940. He earned a commission before the unit went overseas in October 1942 and became second-in-command by the end of the Italian campaign. He succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel R.C. Clark in February 1945 as I Canadian Corps prepared for redeployment to Northwest Europe.

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