Elvis Felt His Superior in the Army Was Purposely Embarrassing Him
Elvis Presley spent two years stationed in Germany with the United States Army. Though he had already achieved fame before his military service, he wanted people to treat him as a regular person throughout his service. This wasn’t entirely possible given his level of fame and recognizability. Elvis found the way one MP treated him to be particularly unfair.
Elvis felt embarrassed by the way an MP was treating him while he was in the army
While Elvis wanted to fit in with his fellow soldiers, he stuck out in several ways. He opted to live off base with his family and received thousands of fan letters each week. He also occasionally attracted unwanted attention because of his status.
“One particular incident I remember was to do with the BMW sports car that Elvis used to drive,” his friend Red West said in Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “The Germans called it an Elviswagon. Anyway, he was driving off base, and when he got to the gates, this big MP starts giving him hell because there was mud on his license plate. He just jumped all over Elvis for no real reason. I mean, he was just trying to show off that he could push Elvis around.”
According to West, Elvis found the incident incredibly frustrating.
“Well, Elvis came home and he was in a bad mood,” West said. “He was saying, ‘That sonofab**** of an MP tried to embarrass me for no reason. I’d like to kick his a**.’”
His bodyguard Red West tried to handle the situation for him
West met Elvis when they were both in high school, and West often stuck up for Elvis. He tried to do the same with the offending MP. He found the man in a local bar and brought him to Elvis’ home.
“Is this the guy who was giving you all that s***?” West asked Elvis. “Now, why don’t you two guys go into the living room and talk it out.”
Within a few minutes, the MP walked out of the living room with a rag and cleaned off Elvis’ license plate himself. West wasn’t sure how they reached this agreement, but he didn’t believe Elvis dramatically confronted him.
“I don’t want to look like a bad a**. I just fell into the situation and handled it,” he explained. “To tell you the truth, what I really think happened was that Elvis gave the dude a hundred bucks to go out there and clean the license plate, and then Elvis would look good in front of me, as if he had handled it himself .…”
Elvis wanted to be treated normally while he was in the army
Though Elvis wasn’t exactly thrilled that the army took him away from his flourishing career, he did his best to assimilate.
“He took the job seriously and asked for no special treatment, and the guys really liked him,” West said. “There were a couple of alerts that sent Elvis right up to the East German border, where he could actually see the Commies on the other side. One time there was even talk that shooting might start up there, and Elvis was right along there, up to his a** in snow and as gung ho as the rest of them.”
He remained in Germany with the army until 1960.
