BREAKING NEWS: Charlie Hodge passes away!

By Charmaine Voisine:

It is with a very sad heart that I have to pass on to all Elvis fans around the world that a very close friend and confidante, Charlie Hodge passed away earlier on this evening as a result of lung cancer that was inoperable. He had a couple of treatments of radiation therapy in between December and January.

Charlie Hodge first met Elvis Presley on a transport ship enroute to Germany from New York back in September 1958 and they served in the Army together and this is where their very close friendship developed and continued until Elvis passed away in 1977.

Charlie Hodge was the guy that sang back up for Elvis, played guitar and also handed Elvis water and scarf's during his shows in the 1970's.

Charlie has been performing nightly at the Memories Theatre for the past few years and he was only diagnosed in December 2005 that he had lung cancer and continued to perform despite that he had cancer, like Elvis, he was a true and dedicated performer for the love of his fans.

We have designed a forum where fans of Elvis Presley and Charlie Hodge can come together to post up messages of condolences for the family of Charlie Hodge and also to post up messages they can share with the the Elvis community of friends and fans ~ their own experiences of meeting Charlie Hodge , spending time with him ~ or seeing him perform LIVE ~

This forum is in Memory of a wonderful person and great friend and confidante to our beloved Elvis Presley

We would like to welcome you all to join this forum and post your messages - we will be making sure that his family and friends see this forum

To join:-
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Charlie-Hodge
or :-
Charlie-Hodge-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

I can't believe another great Elvis friend has left us. Seems like we keep losing all these great people. I had the opportunity to meet Charlie Hodge at a Palm Springs ETA convention a couple of years ago. He was very friendly and sweet. Charlie got a kick out of my Elvis tattoos! :) And I was fortunate to take a handful of photos with him.

Here's one I'd like to share with all of you:



It is very sad news that he is gone, but he's with Elvis now. REST IN PEACE CHARLIE. WE WILL MISS YOU.

UPDATE:

Elvis Expert Cory Cooper just sent an update about the passing of Charlie Hodge. Charlie died Friday afternoon in Intensive Care at the hospital. Cory recieved confirmation from Bill Burk.

According to the Bill : "He had been hospitalized earlier this week from adverse reactions to his radiation treatments for cancer, but that got settled and he went home about two days ago.Today he took a turn for the worse and was rushed back to the hospital's IC ... but did not pull thru this time."

I will keep you all updated on any future announcements.

Thanks Cory!