The last few minutes of Gentleman Jim, whose voice:

Still lingers in our hearts

With some time to kill before a scheduled August - September tour, Jim decided to fly to Batesville, Arkansas, to look for a property to set up a holiday resort. Accompanying him was his manager, Dean Manuel. The pair sped down the runway and took to air, to Berry Airfield, Nashville's main airport, on July 30, hoping to return the next day.

The day before, a freak thunderstorm had caused flooding in the areas encircling the Nashville Hills. After visiting Batesville, in the early afternoon the next day, Jim checked with the authorities about the weather conditions between Batesville and Nashville, and started the journey back home with Dean. Only the rumbling of the afternoon thunderstorm threatened to mar the day.

Around 4.45 p.m. as Jim began his approach into Nashville from the southwest, he contacted the Berry Airfield control tower, giving his plane serial number, N89772M and requesting clearance to land. He also reported that he and Dean were flying into heavy rain that drifted into the area, and were navigating in the low visibility conditions. Jim was accustomed to flying primarily by sight rather than depending on instruments. Minutes later the airfield tower made contact with Jim asking if he had punched through to calmer conditions. "Negat"...was all that the controller heard as Jim's response was cut off. And then at 4.52 pm the beachcraft disappeared from the radar screen. The tower tried again and again to contact Jim over the radio, but no response crackled in. There was no way for the tower to know for sure what had happened. Had Jim's radio been damaged during the improvised landing in some pastures? Or, had he and Dean spiralled out of the sky to their deaths?

Vanished

Within minutes, the airport authorities swung into action crisscrossing around the area where the plane appeared to have vanished. Some residents who lived near Franklin Road, the main southern route into Nashville, told the investigators and reporters that they heard something like a plane going down into one of the thick wooded hills. But, there was still no sign of the plane despite a frantic search operation conducted by rescue workers. Soon, the scene resembled military manoeuvres, as a pair of National Guard helicopters with powerful searchlights were swooping the area. An army of jeeps and other vehicles darted in and out of the small roads and country lanes that snaked through the area.

The number of searchers grew by the minute, once word got round that Jim Reeves was in the plane. It included military personnel, radio, TV and record company executives, and even Boy Scouts troops and equestrian clubs. "Literally, there were over a thousand people in the area", recalled Jerry Thompson who covered the events for The Tennessen newspaper.

A resident told one of the rescuers, Bob Newton, that he saw a plane chunk off towards the nearby lakes. Newton, who in World War II, had gone down in a plane crash himself, took out a map, drew a straight line from the man's home to the lake, and then began to walk along the route through the thickly wooded area. Within minutes he came to a small clearing, where he saw the tail portion of a plane. Newton had found the plane, 500 yards from the point he set off.

Identified

The plane had crashed on to the base of a huge oak tree instantly killing both passengers. The crash, according to newspaper reports, threw one passenger's body (Dean Manuel) 30 feet from the point of the plane's impact, and the other's body (Jim Reeves) remained in the cabin. When word spread that the crash site has been found, many people dashed to the area seeking to satisfy their curiosity. Singer Eddy Arnold, who searched the area by air and on land, was with Newton, and identified the two passengers.

Media reports soon announced to the world that the veteran country music star, 'Gentleman Jim' had died in a plane crash near Nashville, Tennessee, shortly before 5.00 p.m. on Friday July 31 1964.

Statue

Jim's body was flown in a copper coloured coffin in a National Guard plane to his hometown, Carthage, Panola County, Texas. He was buried beside towering oaks in a park now named after him. It is not too far from the home of his mother, Beaulah Reeves who expressed a desire that her son be buried where she could visit frequently, which is just off US Highway 79.

His wife, Mary, erected a life-size marble statue in his memory, which is now classified as a National Monument, and prominently features in the official Texas Tour Guide.

The above article was provided by the official Jim Reeves Fan Club of Sri Lanka.