Veteran remembers friendship with Elvis Presley

Elvis Army Days

Vet befriended King in Army
August 29, 2011
By CHRISTOPHER BOBBY - Staff reporter
Tribune Chronicle

JOHNSTON - Since he was the oldest son of a coal miner from Punxsutawney, Pa., Bill Hazlett had always figured he would live his life the way he wanted, working in the mine like everyone else.

Instead he ended up dropping out of high school and followed his father to Warren where his dad eventually found work at Packard Electric.

''My brother Bob joined the Army, and my brother Luke joined the Air Force about a year earlier, but then I got my draft notice. I thought to myself it was going to be the worst time of my life,'' said Hazlett, a retiree from Wean United who bounced around from Commercial Shearing to Taylor Winfield before being called into the military.

''Nobody was volunteering at the time, so they were drafting. The company held my job for me, though, while I was gone for two years,'' said Hazlett, admitting that his time spent in the military turned out to be perhaps the best time of his life.

''What I thought was bad turned out to be good,'' he said.

Among the good things he can credit to his military service are the birth of his oldest daughter, lifelong friends and memories of his friendship with Elvis Presley, the king of rock 'n' roll.
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