Michael “Mike” James, 73, of Sperry, Iowa, died May 13, 2026, at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics.
Born August 25, 1953, in Leon, Iowa, he was the son of Donald E. James and Donna J. Patton James.
Mike was a dedicated sailor and served in the Navy for over 21 years. He enlisted on April 13, 1971, and began active duty on August 30, 1971. He was sent to the USS Hancock in late February of 1973, “Hanna” as she was known and deployed to the territorial waters of Vietnam. On October 7th of that year, he was deployed to the Straits of Hormuz because the Arabs attacked Israel in what became known as the Yom Kippur War. He returned to the states in January of 1974 for a mini-overhaul at Alameda Naval Air Station. He departed for Vietnam again in January of 1975 and was there until the evacuation of Vietnam started on April 29. He was involved in operations Eagle Pull, Operation Frequent Wind, and Operation Deep Purple and provided support for the Mayaguez Rescue Operation.
In December of 1978, he was transferred to instructor duty at Officers Submarine School, where he taught the officers how to shoot the torpedoes and cruise missiles. In April of 1979, he was transferred to the USS Philadelphia. She was already deployed to the Mediterranean Ocean. First thing the Philly was sent to do was to Libya to shoot missiles at Moammar Khadafi and at the last minute were called off. The USS Dallas did the shooting and Mike’s very close friend Spence Shull got to do the shooting. He got credit for destroying the presidential palace. This is when Mike also found out he had made Chief.
In January of 1987, Mike was back at his old job at Officers Sub School. He applied for retirement on the very first day he was eligible to do so. On August 5, 1991, in Mike’s words, “the idiot” invaded Kuwait and it took less than 48 hours for the Navy to cancel his retirement and send him back to sea.
He married Margaret “Margie” Deggendorf on February 24, 1999. She proceeded him in death on August 12, 2021.
He is survived by two brothers; Dennis James of Tabor, Iowa, and Randy James of North Liberty, Iowa; his sister Deborah Walston of Chesterfield, Missouri and his stepdaughters, Karen Brookhart, Linda Selby and Susan McCabe.
He was preceded in death by one sister Peggy, his parents, his wife Margie and two stepsons, Justin Mark and Brian Mark.
Per his wishes, private graveside services were held at Aspen Grove Cemetery.