This day in history, March 24, 1958, Elvis Presley was conscripted into the U.S. Army as a private at Fort Chaffee.
Presley originally registered his name with the Selective Service System when he turned 18 in 1953, but received a student deferment from taking part in the Korean War because he was still attending high school.
Four years later, Presley received another deferment because he was in the middle of filming his third Hollywood movie, King Creole. Presley finally was inducted in 1958 as a private in the U.S. Army.
That day, hundreds of people came to see Presley as he stepped from the bus and photographers accompanied him into the fort documenting the momentous day.
That would be the last day Elvis Presley would see his mother in good health as she was later diagnosed with hepatitis. On his first weekend leave, his mother was hospitalized. Elvis would be granted leave once again in August to attend to his mother on her death bed. Two days later, she died of heart failure at the age of 46.
A few weeks later, Elvis shipped out to Germany and joined the 3rd Armored Division in Friedberg after finishing his training.
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