Stockdale, James Bond (23 Dec. 1923–5 July 2005), naval officer and defense intellectual, was born in Abingdon, Illinois to Vernon Beard Stockdale, a pottery factory executive, and Mabel Bond Stockdale, a teacher. After graduating from Abingdon High School in 1942, he took classes at Knox and Monmouth Colleges (both in Illinois) for a year and then enrolled at the US Naval Academy at the urging of his father, graduating a year early in ...