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Friday, March 23, 2007

Elvis Presley - Military service

On December 20, 1957, Presley received his draft board notice for his mandatory service in the United States Army. He was worried that his absence in the public eye for 2 years, while serving in the Army, might end his career. Even more worried were Hal Wallis and Paramount who already spent $350,000 on pre-production of Presley's latest film King Creole and they feared of suspending the project or worse canceling it. Fortunately, the Memphis Draft Board granted Wallis and Colonel Parker a deferment until March 20 so Presley could complete his film project. On 24 March 1958, Presley joined his unit, 1st Battalion, US 32nd Armored Regiment and was posted to Ray Barracks, Friedberg, Germany.

"In the army he was forced into interaction with strangers. This is where Elvis developed the gruff, macho and boastful nature as a mode of survival," says Peter Guralnick. "He'd always been the chief and now he had to be a scout." While serving in Germany, Presley met his wife-to-be, the 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, and also the noted International Herald Tribune correspondent and humorist Art Buchwald, future US Secretary of State Colin Powell (then a lieutenant with the Third Army Division in Germany), and Walter Alden, the father of Presley's fiancee Ginger Alden who inducted Presley into the Army.

His rankings and dates of promotions were as follows: Private (upon draft March 24, 1958); Private First Class (November 27, 1958); Specialist Fourth Class (June 1, 1959); and Sergeant (January 20, 1960). While in the Army, he earned sharpshooter badges for both the .45 pistol and the M1 rifle, and a marksman badge for the M2 carbine, as well as a Good Conduct Medal.

Presley returned to the United States on March 2, 1960, and was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant (E-5) on March 5. One of his post-discharge photos shows him wearing dress blues with the grade of Staff Sergeant (E-6), but this was a tailor's error.

After serving his duty in the military, he became more mature and lost his raw and rebellious edge. In his book, Elvis, Albert Goldman writes that, after his return to America, Presley "was a changed man. His first TV appearances, particularly his queer showing on Frank Sinatra Welcome Home Party for Elvis Presley, testify to the change in the man that underlay the change in the image. After the Army, Elvis appeared very delicate and vulnerable, as if he were recovering from major surgery. He wringed his hands as he talked. He became extremely wary. With his preposterous Little Richard conk, his limp wrist, girlish grin and wobbly knees, which now turned out, instead of in, he looked outrageously gay." However, he gained respect from older and more conservative crowds who initially disliked him before he entered the Army.

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