Born in Springfield, Missouri to William Edward and Essie Eunice Stafford on September, 11th 1924. He had 4 older brothers, Suel, Uel (Cook), Tom (Bat) and Scott, and a younger sister Shirley. They have all preceded Jim in death. He was raised on a farm outside of Springfield during the depression where he learned to work hard and be self-sufficient. He joined the Coast Guard at 17 leaving High School early in April 1942 for boot camp in New Orleans and following that he went to Marine Corp boot camp at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. After boot camp he was sent to Petersburg, Alaska arriving in...
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