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Lee Greenwood

War Memorial

From all points of the compass they came, from New Hampshire, Washington, California, the Carolinas, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, Nevada, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Delaware, Oregon, and Ontario, Canada, to converge on Music City USA, otherwise known as Nashville, Tennessee, for a four-day reunion.  One-hundred and eighty-three shipmates, their wives and friends traveled to the Radisson Hotel Opryland by automobile, RV and by air.  One-by-one they filed pass the registration desk into the hospitality room and gradually filled the space with broad smiles across weathered faces, hands pumping other hands and backs slapped in warm remembrance.  The crew of Manley - from the 50s to the 80s - and no longer separated by time and distance, began to close ranks for one more celebration.  It was a Norman Rockwell painting titled: Camaraderie.

The men and women and children came together to enjoy rare friendship and a brief Nashville experience filled with music, entertainment, and tours.  Because Nashville and music are synonymous, you expect nothing but music, music, and more music.  After all, it is the home to all that is country and has given birth to so many music stars.  It is the home of the new Grand Ole Opry and the modern Country Music Hall of Fame but also the preserved Ryman Auditorium where the stage and the walls still echo the birth of country.  But Nashville offers much, much more. 

It is the home to Vanderbilt University and the Tennessee State Museum.  Centrally located in downtown Nashville is the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park nestled serenely in the shadow of the State Capitol.  The 19-acre park is designed to complement the Tennessee Capitol building and give visitors a taste of Tennessee's great history and natural wonder, and to serve as a lasting monument to Tennessee's Bicentennial celebration.  Ante-bellum mansions line the countryside while more recent residences of the country stars carve out spaces along the mountains.

Of course there was entertainment and without a doubt, the highlight was the Saturday evening performance at the Grand Ole Opry when Lee Greenwood appeared on stage to perform his famous God Bless The USA, and predictably, the Manley crew were quick to rise to their feet with a roaring ovation.  The Association Banquet on Sunday evening featured the music of Dennis Scott and his orchestra, and Rik Roberts provided the homespun comedy.  When the farewell breakfast arrived on Monday morning so did the realization that it would be at least another eighteen months before all of us would congregate again.

This page last updated 10 December 2007