Veteran finds peace in Carrboro
By Meghan Cooke
Staff writer
Commons Photo by Meghan Cooke
He was an Army commander during the Korean War. He had breakfast with Milton Friedman, a famous economist. He has traveled to 24 African countries. And now, James L. Stallings is taking it easy in Carrboro.
In the span of his lifetime, Stallings, 76, has traveled across the world and has accomplished much, but he had humble beginnings.
In 1948 the Indiana native attended Purdue University, where young men were required to take ROTC for their first two years of schooling.
Stallings laughed as he described the worst part of his early college years: the difficult dating climate.
“The GIs were coming back from World War II, and a 17-year-old freshman like me had no chance with a girl,” he said.
Perhaps he was lucky or was just being modest about his chances with the ladies because while he was in college, he began dating Evelyn Fay Gard, the daughter of one of his professors, who eventually became his wife.
Meanwhile, tensions were building in world politics. Stallings’ professor of military science and tactics said that things were going to happen in Korea.
Stallings had no intention of completing another two years of ROTC, which would commit him to at least two years of active duty and five more years in the Reserve.
When Stallings realized that conflict with Korea was inevitable, he reconsidered.
“When things started to heat up in Korea, me and two or three of my friends ran back and signed up for ROTC,” Stallings said.
He said he was “patriotic but also practical.” He knew that by committing to ROTC, he would be exempt from the draft and be able to complete his degree, and then he would be commissioned as an officer.
“It was worth the risk,” he said.
Photo courtesy of James Stallings
After his graduation in 1952, Stallings entered the Army as a second lieutenant and was sent to deck officers’ training school, where he earned his military occupational specialty as a master of Army vessels. This particular MOS is unusual for an Army officer because his specialty is typically considered a Navy job.
Stallings was sent to Incheon, Korea, as a commander of a landing craft utility with a crew of 14 men — 10 of whom were South Koreans.
His LCU shipped supplies and conducted reconnaissance missions. On one occasion, Stallings and his crew were helping in the construction of a spy station off of the coast of North Korea. As they were leaving, a North Korean ship began chasing them. Stallings looked at a chart and found a channel nearby, but he feared it was too shallow. His second-in-command, a former South Korean fisherman, knew the area well.
“I didn’t think we could make it,” Stallings said. “But he said, ‘Can do, Skipper, can do!’ So I told him to take us through.”
The North Korean ship could not follow them as they sailed through the 10-foot-deep channel that allowed them to escape.
In May 1954, Stallings returned home. He was promoted to captain, but with such an unusual MOS, there were few opportunities for him in the Reserve.
Continuing his education, Stallings earned his doctorate at Michigan State University in agricultural economics and general economics.
In the 1960s, Stallings worked with the Bureau of Census in Washington, D.C.
Through West Virginia University, Stallings had a unique opportunity to help eastern Africa improve its educational system. He helped the Morogoro Agricultural College, a college in Tanzania, develop a social sciences department and built up the staff. For two years, Stallings, his wife and their two children lived and worked in Tanzania.
In 1970, there was a job opening at Auburn University, where Stallings would finish his career as an economics professor.
However, his professorship did not tie him down. Over the next 20 years, Stallings became involved in 10 different programs across Africa to improve social structure.
Stallings moved to Carrboro to be near family in 1991 with his wife after he retired from Auburn University. Since then, he has been very active in the community. He joined the American Legion and serves as the senior vice commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Chapel Hill.
Stallings also is interested in genealogy. In his home office, there are about 35 notebooks neatly organized on several shelves. He has traced his family lineage through hundreds of years and said that he is a 15th generation American.
He found that his ancestor Daniel Stallings came to Jamestown, Va., in 1620. He even discovered that George Washington stayed at the farm belonging to one of his ancestors.
His daughter helped establish Club Nova, a thrift shop in Carrboro that promotes and provides opportunities for people with mental illnesses. Because of his experience in economics, Stallings reviewed the proposal for the organization when it was in its infancy.
“I’m into everything,” Stallings said with a smile.
Stallings still refers to himself as an economist, but said that he is glad he is out of the economics field.
“The theory of international trade needs to be rewritten,” he said. “But I’m not going to do it.”
Stallings said the growing power of corporations has led to problems with the economy and may be one of the reasons the United States has a continued presence in Iraq.
His wife, Evelyn, who was sitting nearby, shook her head and smiled when politics came up.
Stallings said that economists are often asked for their opinions on these kinds of issues, but politicians will always have the final say.
“I know too much. I’ve been around too long,” Stallings said laughing. “The economist is on tap, but never on top.”
