Elvis Presley formed a bond with writer Johnny Lang while in the Army. Lang remembered the legendary musician for his big heart and being 'funny as hell.'
"I never met a celebrity in my whole life," Lang recalled."There’s Elvis, sitting down there like that, and I walk up to him, standing up and my heart's going like this. And I just stare at him. Presley stands with a group of young men at an induction center raising their right hands as they are sworn into the United States Army by an officer standing next to an American flag.
"And he's looking at me. Finally, he says, ‘Sit down, chief.’ So I sit down, and I'm so nervous. I said, ‘Hey, will you autograph my grandmother's picture? My sister's picture? My mother's picture?’ He says, ‘No problem.’ Anyway, I was there for about 15 minutes and in awe, in awe. And the last thing he says to me, 'I'll see you on the boat, Johnny. Maybe we can spend some time together.' I say, 'I'll be looking for you.'" WATCH: Elvis Presley was a jokester at heart"I spent all my weekends at his house." Lang said."I'd get up about noon, and then at about one o'clock, I'd be at the house, and there would be about three or four hundred people there because they all want an autograph," Lang said."I just knock on the door. … I spent almost a year and a half with him every weekend.Presley served for two years and was discharged in 1960.One of Lang's favorite stories with his friend was from a time Elvis had a head cold, and the pair shared a quiet, yet poignant moment together. "We were combat training in a place called Grafenwöhr," Lang recalled. Presley had a"tank outfit" while Lang was in a"scout outfit," but they somehow reconnected. "I find the barracks. Elvis is all by himself. So, I walk in and say, ‘Hey, babe, what's going on?’ He says, ‘I don't feel good. All the guys are at training. They left me here behind.’ So, he's laying on an army bed, and I'm sitting there, just him and me. Biggest guy in the world. But we're talking," Lang remembered. "I sat on the edge of the bed, and I said, ‘Hey El, will you tell me something?’ I said, ‘Why are you, with all the fame you have and all the money you have, why are you and I friends?’ He said, ‘I’m going to tell you something Johnny Lang. You’d still like me if I was a janitor, and thank God I’m not.’ And I say, ‘You've got that right.’ I got up, and in my mind, I'm thinking, ‘Unbelievable, just him and I, the whole world would love to see it.’" Along with fellow recruits, Elvis waits for a physical examination upon entering the U.S. Army at the Fort Chaffee training installation at Fort Smith, Ark., March 25, 1958. Lang remembered helping Presley fix his blanket because he wasn't feeling his best and said,"You take care. I know you’re not feeling good. I won't keep you up, but God bless you. I'll see you when that opportunity arrives again." "He said, ‘No problem, Johnny. Thanks for coming by.’ And that's my favorite story of all. I mean. Entertainer of the century!"Video "You never know what he's going to do," Lang said."He says to me, he says, ‘Hey, Johnny, why don’t you and I become blood brothers?’""So, I go in the kitchen. I get a butter knife. Come in the living room. And I say, ‘OK, babe, I got you. And he says, ‘You do it first, and I’ll follow you,’ I said OK. So, I take the knife, and I'm going, ‘Man this ain’t cutting! It’s a butter knife!’ And Elvis, he’s looking at me and says, ‘I’ll tell you what Johnny, forget it!’ Greatest opportunity in the world for me to be a blood brother with the entertainer of the century!"While they were together at the border of Czechoslovakia during the Cold War, they didn't see combat. Lang and Presley went their separate ways after the Army. While Presley continued with his music career, Lang got married and raised five kids with his wife. He did recall the"sad day" when they said their goodbyes. "I remember that like yesterday," he said."I'm standing up, and Elvis is coming downstairs, and there’s about seven or eight guys saying goodbye to him.""He comes up to me, shakes my hand, he says, ‘Johnny, it was real nice knowing ya and meeting ya.’ And I got tears coming down, and I'm crying. I said, ‘El, I can't thank you enough for my two years in the service with you, because without you, it wouldn't have been the service the way [it] had.’ And he said, ‘Ah, think nothing of it, Johnny. If you get a chance, come on down and see me in Vegas,"' Lang said."I was hurting 'cause I loved the guy." The world may know Elvis for his music and charming looks, but Lang insisted there was more behind the mirror.Author Johnny Lang recalled his favorite times with Elvis Presley in the Army."I don't think the average person knows. ... They all know how much heart he had, the whole world knows that, but how funny he was," Lang said."The greatest laugh I ever heard in my life was Elvis Presley, and funny as hell. And, of course, a heart as big as this building, but the majority of the world knows how much heart he had. But I don't think they know how funny he was. And I used to make that boy laugh."Before a game of football one day, Elvis"looks over me and says, ‘Hey, Johnny. You think I'll ever be bald?’ I say, ‘No, you’ll never be bald.’ I say, ‘I’ll be bald someday, but listen, I’ll tell you what, you’re going to be uglier.' He says, ‘Let’s go play ball.’"Elvis is one of the best-selling music artists of all time across a number of genres and still holds records for his albums and singles. Presley died in 1977 at his Graceland estate in Memphis. He was 42. Lang remembered his friend for having"nothing but heart. Sense of humor. … Give you the shirt off his back."
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