Elvis ... If He's Out There We'll Find Him!

It's not everyday I contact the U.S. Navy. But a year and a half ago I sent an e-mail to the Public Affairs Officer (PAO) of the Patrol Squadron FORTY-FIVE (VP-45). It went like this:

Dear Sir!

My name is Thomas Melin, I'm living in Sweden and I'm a great fan of Elvis Presley. Many years ago I bought an Elvis patch at a store that sold military surplus stuff that I recognized as some kind of aircrew patch. This patch "resurfaced" a couple of days ago when I found it at a bottom of a drawer in my desk. This time I decided to try to find out what the patch was all about, so I searched for it with the help of google. The first thing I found out was that VP-45 is a patrol squadron, and I found it very interesting to read about its proud history on http://www.vp45.navy.mil/

Unfortunately, there was no mentioning about the Elvis patch, so that's why I've decided to try to contact you, to see if you can help me out. (I've also contacted the VP-45 Association with the same question.) I actually got one google hit mentioning the patch as an unofficial patch, but the link didn't work so I couldn't read more about it.

I would be very grateful if you could tell me more about the patch, what it means that it is unofficial, what year it was used and so on. I think it's a really clever and cool patch, telling whoever reads it that VP-45 is a squadron that gets the job done. As I also have an Elvis blog, I thought it would be interesting to write about the patch and its history there: http://www.elvistoday.blogspot.com/

Thank you very much and merry christmas and a happy new year to you!

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Melin,

Gothenburg, Sweden

Unfortunately I never received a reply, nor from the VP-45 Association. For some reason I came to think about this yesterday and dug out the patch from the drawer where it's still residing together with another military patch with an Elvis connection.

I then sent the Patrol Squadron VP-45 another e-mail, with the old one attached, explaining that I never received a reply, and would be grateful if the present PAO could help me out this time around. Of course I realize that he has more important things on his mind than starting asking his squadron mates questions about an old aircrew patch with Elvis on it, but I just had to try one more time.

As soon as I hear anything, I'll let you know.