In 1961 Don and Phil were called upon to fulfill
their military service obligations. They decided to enlist in the US Marine
Reserve in November so as to not be drafted into the regular Army and left
the world of stardom to endure the rigors of basic training. Phil
and Don spent six months in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves in 1961 and
1962 and the brothers did their basic training in San Diego stationed at
Camp Pendleton.
Phil spoke fondly of the time he and Don spent serving
in San Diego -- even though their stint in the Marines coincided with the
brothers' commercial decline as recording artists. After 12 weeks of basic
training here at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, the brothers became, respectively,
the 781,001st and 781,002nd graduates of MCRD. To this day the Everly Brothers
consider their training as Marines to be a pivotal positive experience
in their formative years.
While in the Corps during the first half of 1962, they
had a Top Ten hit with "Crying In the Rain," but their military commitment
restricted them from capitalizing with club dates and tours.
On February 13, 1962, Don in his Marine dress uniform
married movie starlet, Venetia Stevenson, in the chapel at Camp Pendleton,
California. Five days later pm a weelemd leave and while still honeymooning
in New York City, the boys made an appearance on CBS-TV's The Ed Sullivan
Show in their dress uniforms and with regulation cropped hair, singing
the new single, "Crying In The Rain" along with "Jezebel"
. Don and Phil were released from the Marines on
May 24, 1962. Three weeks earlier Warner Brothers issued "That's Old Fashion
(That's the Way Love Should Be)" which became their second Top Ten
single in a row.
