American singer and actor Elvis Presley served in the United States Army from 1958 to 1960 after being drafted to serve in the military as an active duty soldier for two years. At the time of his enlistment, he was widely regarded as the most well-known name in the world of entertainment.
Before entering the Army, Presley had caused national outrage with his rock and roll music. Many parents, religious leaders, and teachers' groups welcomed his draft into the military. Despite being offered the chance to enlist in Special Services to entertain the troops and live in priority housing, Presley was persuaded by his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, to serve as a regular soldier. This earned him the respect of many of his fellow soldiers and people back in the United States who previously viewed him in a negative light.
During his service, Presley's life was affected in many ways. Not long before he was transferred to West Germany, his mother, Gladys Presley died of a heart attack brought on by acute hepatitis and cirrhosis at the age of 46. While he was living in Bad Nauheim, he met his future wife, Priscilla Beaulieu. He also became reliant on barbiturates and stimulants.Gaar, Gillian G. "Ernst Jørgensen: Chronicler of Elvis' Life." Goldmine 26.1 (2000): 21. International Index to Music Periodicals Full Text [ProQuest]. Web. September 27, 2016
The draft
On January 8, 1956, his 21st birthday, Presley became eligible to be drafted into the military. Colonel Tom Parker, Presley's manager, was well aware of his client's draft status and how it could affect his career. In the summer of 1956, Parker wrote to the Department of Defense requesting that Presley be considered for Special Services, which would allow him to do only six weeks of basic training and then resume life as normal, performing several times a year for the armed forces. However, Parker had no intention of allowing Presley to sign up for Special Service, each performance would have been recorded and filmed for sale to television stations worldwide and the armed forces would own the exclusive rights to these recordings, meaning all of the profits would be retained by the government. Parker was unwilling to allow anyone to effectively enjoy Presley's talents for free, let alone profit from them. Over the next twelve months, Parker led Presley to believe that it was still possible to avoid the draft completely, while secretly planning to allow it. In his eyes, after a year of negative publicity, this was the perfect opportunity to change the view that older Americans had of him. Parker explained to Presley that this was a situation neither of them could refuse. When Presley was told that he would have to serve as a regular soldier, he was furious that Parker failed to get him out of the draft. Parker promised Presley that if he worked hard and served as a regular GI for two years, he would return "a bigger star" than when he left.
On January 4, 1957, Presley visited Kennedy Veterans Hospital in Memphis for a pre-induction physical exam. On January 8, Presley's twenty-second birthday, he was declared 1-A by the Memphis Draft Board, meaning he was physically fit for service and likely to be drafted sometime in the next eight months. On December 16, 1957, it was officially announced that Presley would be receiving his draft notice, which he physically received on December 20. While fans around the country were upset by the news, parents and teachers' groups were ecstatic; they viewed Presley as a menace to society.
The Navy offered to create a special Elvis Presley Company made up of men from Memphis and Presley's closest friends, and offered him the chance to perform in Las Vegas and have his own private quarters. The Army offered Presley the chance to tour the world and visit army bases to boost morale among soldiers and encourage other young men to enlist. Presley politely told both parties that he would consider their offers. The Pentagon, too, had been in touch to offer Presley the opportunity to join Special Services, entertaining the troops without having to train as a regular soldier; this option was known by many soldiers and veterans as "the celebrity wimp-out". After discussing each offer with Parker, Presley eschewed any special treatment and decided to serve as a regular soldier. In Parker's words, "Taking any of these deals will make millions of Americans angry."
King Creole
Presley was originally scheduled to be inducted on January 20, 1958. However, due to commitments at Paramount and the filming schedule of his latest film, King Creole, Presley had to personally write to the Memphis Draft Board to request a deferment. He explained to them that Paramount had already spent up to $350,000 on pre-production of the film, and that many jobs were dependent on his ability to complete filming, which was due to begin on January 13. They granted him an extension until the middle of March. When news of the extension broke, angry letters were sent to the Memphis Draft Board complaining about the "special treatment" that Presley was receiving. According to Milton Bowers, head of the draft board and angered by the public outcry, Presley "would have automatically gotten the extension [anyway] if he hadn't been Elvis Presley the superstar".
Worried that rock and roll was a passing fad, Presley wanted to make King Creole the best role he had ever acted. He knew that two years out of the limelight would mean hard work when he returned, and so he gave his all in that film to show the world that he had the potential to return as a serious, dramatic actor. Author Alanna Nash described it as "the performance that would forever define his potential".
Induction
Two weeks after finishing King Creole, Presley reported for his induction on March 24, 1958, a day dubbed "Black Monday" for his fans by the press. Presley was given a medical examination and assigned service number 53310761, before being sworn in and made leader of his group. Parker, with the permission of the Army, had arranged for news crews from around the world to be on hand to report Presley's entry into the Army. After his final goodbyes to family and friends, Presley and his fellow Army recruits were taken by bus to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.
Fort Hood Presley spent four days at Fort Chaffee before being transferred to Fort Hood, Texas. After being assigned to Company A, 2d Medium Tank Battalion, 37th Armor, Presley completed basic training by June. He had become a pistol sharpshooter, and expressed his enjoyment at the "rough and tumble" of the tanks obstacle course. To friends back home, however, he was less upbeat. In letters to friend Alan Fortas, Presley described his homesickness and insisted that he hated the training. Eddie Fadal, another of Presley's friends, remembers that Presley would worry about his career, fearing it was all over. One of Presley's instructors, Bill Norwood, who let Presley use his phone to call home on many occasions, recalls Presley breaking down in tears during many of these phone calls.
After a short break to record new material for RCA Victor in June, Presley returned to Fort Hood to finish his tank training. He was now living off post, in his own house, with his mother, father, grandmother, and friend Lamar Fike; soldiers who had dependents living off post were allowed to live with them. Having his family close by cheered him up immensely, although he still spoke to friends about his fears for his career. Parker, who was often a visitor to Presley's home, would attempt to reassure his client. Parker had arranged for enough material and merchandise to be available to keep Presley's name in the public arena during his two years in the service. Although Presley nodded along in agreement with his manager, he was not really convinced that he could return to what he had known previously.
Mother's death In early August, while in Texas with her son, Gladys Presley took ill. She had recently increased her alcohol intake to cope with her son's fame and army commitments, and she had also begun using diet pills to attempt to lose weight. This, coupled with a poor diet, had led to the deterioration of her liver function. One afternoon, after a heated argument with her husband Vernon, Gladys collapsed from exhaustion. Presley arranged for her and Vernon to return to Memphis on August 8. The next day, Gladys' condition worsened so rapidly that she was rushed to a hospital. On August 11, after calls from her doctor, Presley requested emergency leave to visit with his mother. After initially being turned down and threatening to go absent without leave, Presley was eventually given permission to leave on August 12. The officer who initially denied Presley his emergency leave was later disciplined for his actions.
On August 14, Gladys died from cirrhosis; her official cause of death was listed as a heart attack, but the Presleys refused an autopsy to verify it. Elvis and Vernon were both devastated by her death. Her funeral was held on August 15, and Presley collapsed with grief several times before, during, and after the service. His mother had always been the most important person in his life, and now he felt as though everything he had worked for had been for nothing. Presley's leave was extended by five days on August 18, and when he finally left to return to Fort Hood, he left instructions that nothing in his mother's room was to be altered.
West Germany
1958
After training at Fort Hood, Presley was reassigned to the 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32d Armor, 3d Armored Division, at Ray Barracks, West Germany, where he served as an armor intelligence specialist. He left Fort Hood on September 19, headed for Brooklyn Army Terminal in New York where he would ship out to West Germany on September 22. After a short press conference arranged by Parker, which also involved Presley walking up and down the plank of the eight times for cameras, the ship set sail and Presley would spend the rest of his service overseas.
During the crossing Presley became a friend of a fellow soldier named Charlie Hodge. Hodge, who had enjoyed some success as an entertainer himself before being drafted, encouraged Presley to help him put together a show for the troops. Presley accepted his request, but only agreed to play piano in the background; Parker had drilled into him that there would be no public performances of any kind during his service. Hodge would become a close friend to Presley during their time in the army, and he was invited to work for him when they were both discharged.
On October 1 the USS General George M. Randall arrived in West Germany. Presley was once again offered the chance to join Special Services, but politely refused. He was instead given the task of being the chauffeur for the commanding officer of Company D, a Captain Russell. Russell, however, did not take kindly to the attention surrounding Presley, and he was transferred to driving duties for Reconnaissance Platoon Sergeant Ira Jones of Company C.