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Tennessee State Poem"Oh Tennessee, My Tennessee"Written by Naval Adm. William LawrenceAdopted in 1973 .
"Oh Tennessee, My Tennessee" was adopted as the Tennessee State poem in 1973. "Oh Tennessee, My Tennessee"Tennessee Code Annotated
I Revere Your Heroes
I Thrill at Thought of Mountains Grand;
Beauty and Hospitality
And O'er the World as I May Roam,
[Acts 1973, ch. 111, § 1; 1977, ch. 329, § 1; T.C.A., § 4-116.] Origin of Poem:The poem entitled "Oh Tennessee, My Tennessee" by Naval Adm. William Lawrence was designated and adopted as the official state poem by Public Chapter 111 of the 88th General Assembly. VADM William Porter LawrenceVADM William Porter Lawrence was born in Nashville TN on January 13, 1930.As a boy in Nashville, he graduated first in his high school class and was President of the Student Body.
Upon receipt of his Naval Aviator Wings in Pensacola FL in November 1952, he was assigned to Fighter Squadron 193 at the Naval Air Station Moffeft Field CA during the Korean War, and deployed twice to the Far East aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany. He next attended the Naval Aviation Safety School at the University of Southern California, and the U. S. Naval Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River MD.
Lawrence, as a Lieutenant, served as Personal aide to RADM Thomas H, Moorer, USN, Commander Carrier Division Six, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, deploying to the Mediterranean and North Atlantic. He next served as Assistant Operations Officer of Fighter Squadron 101, Naval Air Station, Oceana VA responsible for the introduction of the new F4H Phantom jet to the fleet, followed by a tour as Navigator of the gun cruiser USS Newport News.
VADM Lawrence made combat deployments to Vietnam aboard the aircraft carriers USS Ranger and USS Constellation. While Commanding Officer of Fighter Squadron 143, he was shot down over North Vietnam in June 1967 and held as a Prisoner of War until March 1973. Lawrence composed this poem while enduring a period of 60 days of solitary confinement in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. Lawrence, who spent six years as a POW during the Vietnam War, is a Nashville native and is retired from the United State Navy.
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