After serving on the cruiser USS Quincy, he was appointed midshipman in the Naval Reserve on 17 March 1941 and was commissioned Ensign on 12 June 1941.

He reported to the USS Oklahoma on 19 July 1941 and was killed while serving in that ship during the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

USS Stockdale (DE-399) was laid down by Brown Shipbuilding, Houston, Texas on 31 August 1943; launched on 30 October 1943; sponsored by Mrs. L.C.

[1] Stockdale held her shakedown cruise off Bermuda during February 1944 and underwent a short yard period at Charleston, South Carolina in March before proceeding to Norfolk, Virginia.

Stockdale held gunnery exercises at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while en route to Hawaii.

She then researched the Admiralty Islands for missing service personnel, and made strategic bombing surveys at Rabaul, New Britain, before being ordered back to the east coast in January 1946.