Key Takeaways:
- Elvis Presley served in the U.S. Army for two years during his early 20s. During this stint, the musician’s personal life was upended by loss and love.
- The King was devastated by the sudden and untimely death of his mother, Gladys Presley, in August 1958.
- The next fall, Elvis met the woman who he would later marry, Priscilla Beaulieu.
Elvis Presley was at the height of his fame when the 22-year-old was called to report for duty in the U.S. Army. The music superstar served for two years from March 1958 to March 1960, and for much of that time, he was stationed in Germany. By January 1960, he’d even been promoted to sergeant.
While he was in the Army, Presley’s career hummed along thanks, in part, to the release of his lauded movie King Creole in July 1958 and his No. 1 song “A Big Hunk O’ Love” the next summer. The King of Rock ’n’ Roll earned $1.6 million in 1959 alone, according to his manager Colonel Tom Parker.
But his military service also coincided with a period of intense personal change that ensured Presley the Army recruit wasn’t the same man as Presley the veteran. By the time he was honorably discharged, he had lost his beloved mother and met the woman who would become his wife.
The musician was very close with his parents, Gladys and Vernon Presley, who moved to Fort Hood, Texas, to be near their only son while he was stationed at the Army base there. About four months into Elvis’s service, in August 1958, Gladys became gravely ill with acute hepatitis. She returned to Memphis, Tennessee, where she was hospitalized.
Immediately, Elvis requested emergency leave to be by his mother’s side. He spent a day and a half with Gladys, but on August 14, the 46-year-old died of a heart attack. The singer was devastated in the wake of his mother’s death. At her funeral, he reportedly said: “Goodbye, Darling. Goodbye! I love you so much! I lived my whole life just for you.”
Elvis didn’t hid his grief when he talked with journalists about Gladys’s death, either. “It broke my heart,” Elvis said at the time, according to the Associated Press. “She was always my best girl.”
Still, Private Presley had a job to do. Ten days after Gladys died, the singer was back at Fort Hood serving his country, and the next month, he was deployed to a base in Friedberg, Germany.
Elvis was still there in the fall of 1959 when a teenaged Priscilla Beaulieu arrived with her stepfather, who was an Air Force officer, and the rest of their family. Elvis and Priscilla met at a party not long after the Beaulieus moved, and they instantly connected despite their 10-year age gap.
Elvis, 24, saw a resemblance between Priscilla, 14, and his recently deceased mother and made sure they saw each other again. After four “dates” between the unlikely pair, Priscilla’s parents insisted on meeting the “Heartbreak Hotel” singer. She later recalled their introduction in an essay for People.
“Let’s face it: You’re Elvis Presley. You have women throwing themselves at you. Why my daughter?” her stepfather asked.
“Well, sir, I happen to be very fond of her,” Elvis responded. “She’s a lot more mature than her age, and I enjoy her company.”
The meeting convinced her apprehensive parents to continue to let Priscilla see Elvis, and the couple spent a considerable amount of time together over the next several months.
In March 1960, having fulfilled the terms of his service, Elvis left Germany and the Army altogether. He was anxious to get back to music and acting, but even as his entertainment career picked back up, he didn’t forget about Priscilla. Seven years later, they got married in Las Vegas, and she became Priscilla Presley.
For more on the King’s life, family, and military service, read his full Biography.com profile and a detailed account of his time in the U.S. Army.
Adrienne directs the daily news operation and content production for Biography.com. She joined the staff in October 2022 and most recently worked as an editor for Popular Mechanics, Runner’s World, and Bicycling. Adrienne has served as editor-in-chief of two regional print magazines, and her work has won several awards, including the Best Explanatory Journalism award from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers. Her current working theory is that people are the point of life, and she’s fascinated by everyone who (and every system that) creates our societal norms. When she’s not behind the news desk, find her hiking, working on her latest cocktail project, or eating mint chocolate chip ice cream.
