Beautiful Karamursel
Beautiful Karamursel
Jeff Goodson - Henderson, Texas
Jeff Goodson - Henderson, Texas
The military creates some wonderful opportunities. Jeff Goodson, when stationed in Germany, was stationed with Elvis Presley. Jeff is a singer and musician as well. Below is the article that appeared in the Sunday edition of the Henderson Daily News November 12, 1989.
Hendersonite spent time in U.S. Army with Elvis
By T.K. Laxson
Staff writer
Elvis Presley behind the wheel of his jeep in Germany
The winter white landscape of Germany is a far cry from “Blue Hawaii” but that’s where Elvis Presley was in 1959, getting the “G.I. Blues,” while driving military jeeps in the field, a winter “Speedway.” And, even in a foreign country, Presley was surrounded by “Girls, Girls, Girls,” according to Henderson’s Jeff Goodson.
But “Don’t Be Cruel,” because Goodson said Presley was a very nice guy and a good soldier - not a star expecting special treatment. He ought to know, he was stationed with Presley for 18 months in Freiburg, Germany.
“We were first stationed together at Fort Hood in ’58, “ said Goodson, owner and manager of Jeff’s Hair Care on Highway 79 South in Henderson. “He was about three months ahead of me (in boot camp.) We got to know each other. Of course, I imagine he knew a lot of people. Everybody wanted to meet Elvis.”
“Goodson said Presley worked as a jeep driver during his stint in the military. “He brought five expensive automobiles over to Germany; with him.” Goodson recalled. “And then he drove a jeep.”
“When he first got over there he souped the jeep up - he put everything that you could put on a jeep as far as making it look nice, mud flaps, everything,” Goodson said. “But, after a week in the field, everything was torn to pieces.”
He never expected any special treatment, said Goodson, and he never tried to get out of a job. “He didn’t take advantages because he was Elvis,” Goodson recalled.
Presley lived off-base, told Goodson, in a small town about 20 miles north of Frankfurt. “he rented a house for about $800 a month, which we thought was a ton of money at the time,” Goodson said.
And, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there were people (mostly girls) walking around his house in an effort to see Presley, said Goodson. “Every time we went over there, there would be people outside,” he said. “They beat a path out around that house.”
“We’d all live in the snow for 45 days at a time, and that was rough on everybody, including Elvis,” Goodson said.
Elvis, a German K.P. and Jeff Goodson (far right) of Henderson take a break in field manuevers for a picture. Goodson was stationed in Freiberg, Germany with Elvis for 18 months in 1958-59.
Presley never really did sing or play the guitar that much, said Goodson, except for one time and it was just like one of Presley’s movies.
“There was a guy sitting up in the motor pool one day playing the Guitar,” Goodson recalled. “Elvis walked in, just walks over and grabs the guitar. Then he sang and played two or three songs. That’s the only time I remember him doing anything like that. One of the songs was “Love Me Tender. I can’t remember the other two.”
Did the soldier mind when Presley grabbed his guitar?
“Oh no, he understood just fine. I mean, how many times does Elvis Presley walk up and grab your guitar?” Goodson asked.
A crowd gathered to watch and listen, he said, but there was always a crowd when Presley was around. “They would gather around whether he sang or not,” Goodson said.
Presley was well-liked, Goodson said and added that everybody (there were 5000 troops stationed at Freiberg) was always coming up to get their picture taken with him. And Presley used to walk around with a box of cigars which he would hand out to everybody, “I still have the one he gave me,” Goodson said.
He was also the team mascot for the Freiberg football team, said Goodson. “”We’d be playing another team who’d have somebody dressed up as a bear or something for a mascot - and we’d have Elvis Presley.”
Goodson said Germany was where Elvis first met his future wife, Priscilla, who was then 13 and an officer’s daughter. “Which is a little strange when you think about it,” he said.
Goodson comes from Mississippi originally, like Elvis. “I asked him if he knew Carthage, Miss.,” Goodson said. “He said he’d been there but it had been a little while since he’d been there and didn’t remember it that well.”
After the service Goodson saw Presley again later in a concert in Jackson, Miss., where he sat next to Elvis’ cook. “We just happen to get a seat next to his cook at Graceland.”
"The King" and Goodson. Elvis and Goodson were at the same boot camp, too, in Fort Hood.
No one personifies the early 60's more than Elvis Presley