Elvis Presley and his family had no idea when he served in the United States Army in Germany that he was in the country of his ancestors. He could not have guessed that just a short drive to the south of Frankfurt was a village where his Pressler forebears had probably lived for centuries, and where he would have found relatives still living.

Indeed, the erroneous family charts produced by genealogists shortly before his death served only to mislead him in this regard, as well as many other biographers and writers since his death. The origin of the family in Germany has been discovered only in the last few years and known only to those few family historians who have so diligently probed the old records with a view to tracing the family line.

Elvis Presley continues today, twenty years after his death, to be as popular as ever. There is an appreciation of his music as always, but there is also a continued hunger to know as much as possible about the man and his life. People of all walks of life continue to listen to his music. The President of the Philippines, the Premier of China, the heir to the Principality of Monaco have all been seen on television singing the songs of Elvis Presley. His fans are worldwide, and his popularity perhaps nowhere stronger than in Germany.

When the United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp in honor of Elvis Presley, it evolved into a huge promotion. In fact, the USPS allowed American citizens to vote on the image they would most like to see on the stamp when it was issued. The Postal Service ultimately sold more Elvis stamps than any other postage stamp which they have ever issued.

What may not be widely known, at least in the United States, is that the first postage stamp honoring Elvis Presley was issued by the Federal Republic of Germany. Issued in a set of four different stamps which also honored three other rock 'n' roll stars, the Elvis stamp was launched at a large international music festival held in Essen, West Germany on 14-17 April 1988. This was, unknowingly, a fitting tribute not just to a popular icon, but also to a "son of Germany."