Lewis served above and below the ocean's surface, but in the long haul the latter prevailed.

Lewis Roy Payne was born in Ukiah, California, on March 26, 1921, to Lewis B. and Vera Payne. When he was eleven months old, he was brought to Santa Cruz where he spent his formative years. After attending Gault School and Branciforte Junior high school, he enrolled in Santa Cruz High School. In high school Lewis followed a general and varied course of study and in 1938 he graduated at the age of seventeen.

Payne joined the US Navy on November 9, 1938, and was sent to an unidentified US naval facility for boot camp training. After completing basic training in February 1939, he enrolled in the US Navy Ordinance School and graduated third in his class the following June. Payne reported aboard the USS Hull and was with that vessel during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and during the Gilbert and Marshal Island campaigns.

In June 1942 Petty Officer Payne was accepted into the navy's submarine training at New London, Connecticut. Prior to attending that school, it is believed that he married and in 1943 became the father of a daughter. He completed submarine training in February 1943 and was assigned to the submarine USS Poggy. In March 1945 he was transferred to the USS Trigger.

“Trigger (with new skipper Commander David R. Connole) stood out to sea on 11 March to begin her 12th war patrol and headed for the Nansei Shoto area. On 26 March, she was ordered to join a wolf pack called "Earl's Eliminators" and to acknowledge receipt of the message. A weather report came from the submarine that day but no confirmation of her having received the message. The weather report was Trigger's last transmission. On 4 April, she was ordered to proceed to Midway Island, but she had not arrived by 1 May and was reported as presumed lost.”

Torpedoman Mate, First Class Lewis Roy Payne was killed in action on March 28, 1945 aboard the USS Trigger that was sunk by Japanese aircraft and warships in Nansei Shoto, Ryukyu Islands. He is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial; his awards include the Purple Heart.

(ABMC, SCHSC Pg. 16, DANFS; WIKI, USS Trigger SS-237; SCR 1942, unk; SCSn May 17, 1945 1:7,)