It was Wednesday at approximately 1948 when my two sons, 7 and 11 years old were outdide of my home playing. All of a sudden they ran in to get my wife and me to tell us they had just observed a "rocket" flying from the east towards the west and all of a sudden turned to go straight up through the clouds and went out of sight. They both told me that it appeared to be a rocket and was white in color. They both also stated that it seemed to have a flame behind it that left a trail of white smoke. When my wife and I had ran out all we could see was a trail (vapor trail) like a jet would leave in the sky that appeared to go straight up above our home. There were many commercial airliners in the sky during and after the event. I realize that this may have only been a rocket but I have never seen or heard of anything such as this in the area of west TN where I live. Also, my boys aren't the type to tell tales or fictional stories.