1958 was a pivotal year for Elvis Presley. In August, Gladys Presley fell ill with acute hepatitis. Earlier that year, the rock ‘n’ roll star had entered the U.S. Army. He was granted emergency leave to visit his beloved mother in Memphis, arriving two days before she passed away.

Presley reported back to Fort Hood, Texas, before heading to New York and boarding the USS Randall and sailing to Friedberg, Germany, where he was stationed for 18 months.

During this period, “The King” wrote a four-page letter to girlfriend Anita Wood, an aspiring actress who hosted a Memphis TV dance show. “Sometimes we would go to the skating rink and he would rent it all night long,” Wood said in a 2006 interview. “Sometimes we would get on the motorcycle, just Elvis and I, and ride through Memphis. [Those were] some of my best times with him.”

Like a typical — but famous — soldier, Presley wrote love letters and in one particular message acknowledged accounts of his flirtations with a German girl. “I just received your letters,” he writes, “and I can judge by the last 3 that you are a little disappointed.” Blaming reporters for exaggerating the facts, he tells Anita “regardless of what you read … please remember that I am yours my darling, yours, yours, yours, yours, yours.”

Presley’s pet name for Anita was “Little,” and he uses the term repeatedly in his handwritten letter. At one point, his fantasy gets a little steamy: “I can feel your little hair on the side of my face and sometimes I get so excited and want you so bad I start sweating.”

When Presley wrote, prescription cialis generic he usually kept his letters short, rarely using more than one page, says Doug Norwine, director of music and entertainment at Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries. “This is not only one of the longest letters by Elvis known to exist, it is also among the most emotional,” Norwine says. “If there were any doubts that Elvis was above the normal insecurities of a 23-year-old soldier in a faraway land, this letter dispels that notion.”

The letter, which is included in the book “Elvis: Word for Word” by Jerry Osborne (Gramercy, 2006), is being auctioned by Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries on Aug. 14-15, 2010, in Memphis, Tenn. It’s expected to sell for up to $75,000. “This is among the most personal items ever associated with Elvis,” Norwine says. “At the time, Anita was his most significant lady.”

By September 1959, Presley had met Priscilla Beaulieu, the stepdaughter of a U.S. Air Force officer stationed in Germany. By March 1960, Presley had returned to the United States to relaunch his superstar career in music and the movies. He married Priscilla seven years later, while Wood went on to marry NFL football player Johnny Brewer.

Author Bio: Hector Cantu is editorial director at Heritage Magazine (www.HeritageMagazine.com), where this story originally appeared. For a free subscription, visit www.HeritageMagazine.com.

Category: Music
Keywords: Elvis Presley, Anita Wood, Priscilla, Memphis, Gladys, love letter, Heritage Auction Galleries, rock ‘n’ roll, music, Germany