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- PROFILES OF REX AND ELISABETH MANSFIELD -
(Taken partially from the Introduction in their book, Sergeant Presley)
Photos below taken in early 1960,
from left to right - Elvis, Elizabeth and Rex
Rex Mansfield from Dresden, Tennessee (120 miles north of Memphis) and Elisabeth Stefaniak Mansfield from Bamberg, Germany (near Nürnberg) celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary on June 4, 2008. They knew Elvis Presley at the height of his fame and fortune.
Elisabeth Stefaniak was a 19-year-old German-American girl. Like many young women around the world, she was infatuated with the singer’s celebrity status, his music, his movies, and most of all, the man himself. After they met in Grafenwöhr, Germany in November 1958, where they dated for about three weeks, Elvis offered Elisabeth every girls dream job – to be his personal, private secretary. A month after they met, she became and would remain his secretary throughout the remainder of his time in Germany. It was beyond her wildest dreams. She couldn’t have known when she contrived a plan to get Elvis' autograph how their meeting would alter the course of her life forever.
Rex, like Elvis, was a church-going, God-fearing Southern boy with dreams of his own. Like many young American men in the years that followed World War II, he was called upon by his country to serve in the US Army for two years. Rex knew when he was drafted as a solider that his life was about to be changed dramatically. What he didn’t know is that it wouldn’t be the before dawn roll calls, his intense military training and demanding pace of US Army life that would have the biggest impact on him. Rather, it was a single man, a fellow soldier, and someone he would come to know as a close friend named Elvis Presley.
Rex was inducted with Elvis into the US Army at Kennedy Veterans Hospital in Memphis. They took training together in Fort Hood, Texas and were stationed together in Germany at Ray Barracks in the Friedberg Kaserne. Rex and Elisabeth, by the grace of God, became romantically involved with each other in late 1959. After a few months of secretly dating, they decided they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together rather than accept Elvis’ job offers to stay with him.
Current Photo of Elisabeth and Rex Mansfield
Their story is documented in Sergeant Presley, which was first published in 2002. The 2008 version of Sergeant Presley is a special limited edition digital reprint designed to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Elvis Presley's induction in the Army. A film entitled The King and Us is also in the pre-production stages. Also, a coffee table-style photo book entitled Elvis, the Army and Us will coincide with the film's release.
Rex and Elisabeth’s story is as much their story as it is the story of the man once known as Sergeant Elvis A. Presley, serial number US l55310761. You will discover by knowing their story, their lives were so intertwined at the time by the faces of friendship, duty, passion, deception, and love that one story cannot be told without the other. They take you back in time and deep into Elvis’ inner circle, each having their own personal experiences with the superstar, who share with you their private memories of a pop culture icon that goes beyond the headlines, fan magazines and hundreds of books pieced together by various music historians. These are memories of two friends in uniform and of a girl torn between an ordinary soldier and a complex Elvis Presley, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
EIN Exclusive Interview • Up Close and Personal • Elvis.com