Serving with Private Presley / Elvis was just another soldier

When Pat Conway was drafted on Feb. 6, 1958, he was about to begin one of the most interesting parts of his life, one he still talks about today.

During his time in the U.S. Army, he struck up a friendship with Elvis Presley, the ultra-famous rock and blues star.

Conway regaled the audience at the annual meeting/dinner of the H. Earl and Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Museum Foundation Saturday with stories about the time he spent with Elvis.

"You may think we are at the Best Western Havre Inn and Suites," foundation chair Elaine Morse told the crowd as she introduced Conway. "But I'm here to tell you that this is Heartbreak Hotel."

Elvis offered Conway a job at his Graceland Estate when Conway's hitch ended, but he decided instead to return to Havre and finish his degree at University of Montana. He later became assistant principal at Havre High School and then a Hill County commissioner.

When he got in the Army, Conway was assigned to the Second Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

One day, the paltoon sergeant ordered that all the blinds be shuttered so troops could not see what was happening outside.

Word was that someone important was coming, and higher-ups didn't want him to distract operations. Word gets out fast in the Army, though. Soldiers soon found out that the special person was Elvis. He had been drafted as Conway had been, and the Army had to decide how to handle having a celebrity in the ranks.

Conway did not became friends with Presley until the two were assigned to a base in Germany.

While Presley was popular with troops and immensely popular with German citizens, he wasn't, Conway recalled, with Havre residents.

Before joining the Army, Presley took a ride east on the Empire Builder. When he went through Cut Bank, he greeted fans who had waited at the station for him.

But when throngs gathered at the Havre station, Presley stayed in the train, leaving the crowd disappointed.

Conway asked him about the incident.

"They crucified me in the press," he recalls Presley telling him. "But I was asleep."

"Yeah, sure," Conway recalls thinking.

Presley was offered a position with the Army's Special Services, which would have meant he could provide entertainment to the troops and avoid the day-to-day Army assignments, but Presley from the start said he didn't want that.

"He wanted to be treated just like the other guys," he said.

"He stood inspection with me, he was in the motor pool with me every day," he said.

But that didn't mean the public treated him the way they treated other soldiers.

When they were on maneuvers, they would frequently end up in a small German community performing their duties.

"But word would always get out that the rock star was in town, and he would be mobbed by well-wishers.

"He was always generous and signed his autograph for people," Conway said.

Three times, Presley went to Paris, and he and Conway often went out to German towns.

One night, they took in Presley's film "Love Me Tender."

"That movie nearly ruined my career because it was so bad," Presley told Conway.

"And it was," Conway added.

"I have lots of memories of Elvis," Conway said.

"Before he left the Army, he offered me a job at Graceland," he said.

But Conway wanted to get back to Montana.

He returned to Havre, finished his degree at University of Montana and came back to Havre High.

Conway talked to Presley a few times after that. He got to him by going through his bodyguard who he had befriended while they were in Germany.

But as time went by, their talks became more infrequent.

Conway and his wife kept making plan to go to Las Vegas, see one of his shows and meet up with him.

"Then we'd say, next year, and next year," he recalled.

But it never happened.