The day finally came that we got word that the U.S. Army had all the service it would get from Elvis Presley.
It was time for him to come home.
Today, hundreds of people who were not there claim to have met the train that day that it arrived in Memphis. Some of these people are even celebrities in their own right, eager to claim a close personal friendship with Elvis that never was.
Yes, there was a bit of a crowd - fans! Just as there had been a crowd saying goodbye to Elvis in Germany. He was a star after all. That was to be expected. And it made for good news footage and photographs. It was exciting!
March 24th 1958 Elivis was inducted into the army and March 5, 1960 was the official date of return to the United States. Elvis hated to fly at that time in his life, which is why once he got to the states he elected to take a train to Memphis.
Here came the train down the tracks, the whistle blowing to a stop. There is something to the power of a train, the wheels on the tracks. The train stopped and Elvis came off wearing his full army uniform and looked terrific. You could sense a new maturity about him. You could see the genuine happiness in his face to be home.
I was among a group of Elvis' friends and employees and family members who were there to meet him when the train pulled into the station, those there by invitation. That meant that I was part of a relatively small group of people who got Elvis in a car, and then packed into other cars, and followed him in a caravan to Graceland TM where a "Welcome Home Elvis!" party was waiting.
Graceland TM had not been home long to Elvis and the Presley's when he left the country and it was missing the one thing that makes a home a Home Sweet Home.
If a wash of sadness or a moment of thoughtfulness dressed his face during those first days when Elvis was back in Memphis, it was because there was one person he could never come to again, his mother, Gladys.
Here's a video of Elvis from a You Tube presenter that has some footage of Elvis leaving the army and arriving home at Graceland. (Where do people get the footage?) This one has Elvis singing "It's Now Or Never." Towards the end there, is Colonel Tom Parker, who I first met at this party, and who was in and out of the house. He and Elvis never did take to socializing with each other much.
Now, the party lasted for days. There was Southern food. Food, food, and more food. Cake and more cake. We talked and we ate. We danced to the jukebox and ate some more. Elvis demonstrated karate moves he'd learned while in Germany. I didn't see anyone get drunk. Everyone was too busy catching up with Elvis and each other. It was a true "house party," with people making themselves at home. And it was during a moment in the kitchen at this party that Elvis and I talked the two of us, and I told him that I had left United Artists.
The early entourage wasn't called "The Memphis Mafia" TM then. They were called "his guys" or "his crew," and at first it was men who were friends who were then asked to work, be on payroll, people Elvis wanted around to make his life easier, to take care of things that needed to be done around the house, people he liked personally. Elvis liked talented people, musical people, particularly those who were tied to the music business, around him. People like ex-DJ and hep cat comedian Cliff Gleaves, who would one day be the entertainer at Elvis' parties in Hollywood.
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