Engine dies upon accelleration

1995 Chevrolet Cheyenne 6.8 turbo diesel, automatic, one-ton flat bed with approximately 135,000 miles.

Engine had been running fine except on a hard acceleration when it sometimes missed--not seriously but noticeably. The other day, I had driven about 15 miles and started accelerating as I entered a freeway. The engine started heavily misfiring and within 10 seconds, died. It restarted but went only a short distance and died again. I was able to get back home but only after several starts, stops, rests, restarts. No "water in Fuel" light ever came on and fuel filter appeared fairly clean with only the bottom area of the filter even stained. I replaced the fuel filter anyway and it seems to be running OK now but I'm afraid to venture very far until I know what might have been the cause of the problem. Any ideas?