Early Life and Career
Stockdale was born in Abingdon, Illinois, the son of Mabel Edith (née Bond) and Vernon Beard Stockdale. Following a brief period at Monmouth College, he entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in 1943. In June 1946 he graduated with the class of 1947 due to the reduced schedule still in effect from World War II. Academically he ranked 130th among 821 graduates in his class.
Shortly after graduating, Stockdale reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola, in Florida, for flight training. In 1954, he was accepted into the United States Naval Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River base in Southern Maryland. It was there that he tutored a young Marine aviator named John Glenn in math and physics.
In 1959 the Navy sent Stockdale to Stanford University where he received a masters degree in international relations. Stockdale preferred the life of a fighter pilot over academia, but later credited Stoic philosophy with helping him cope as a prisoner of war.
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