Stafford was the flight surgeon of the 9th squadron of the 7th Bombardment Wing, stationed at Djokjakarta in early February 1942, when 22 sailors from U.S. Navy cruisers and wounded in the Battle of Makassar Strait arrived. Stafford and local Dutch doctors worked late in the night to treat the sailors, most of whom had suffered severe burns. When the Japanese invaded Java on February 28, 1942, Stafford was instrumental in getting the sailors evacuated on the freighter "Abbekerk".