Posted on 03/31/2014 8:45:07 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Admiral Jeremiah Denton died yesterday at the age of 89. Admiral Denton served seven-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. Denton’s name should be known by every American. In captivity he gave something beyond the last full measure of devotion, if that is possible. His is a story of almost unbelievable endurance, courage and patriotism. Here is a short course courtesy of the Denton Foundation that I saved a while back:
In June 1965, he began a combat tour in Vietnam as prospective Commanding Officer of Attack Squadron Seventy-Five. On July 18, 1965, Denton was leading a group of twenty-eight aircraft from the USS lNDEPENDENCE in an attack on enemy installations near Thanh Hoa, when he was shot down and captured by local North Vietnamese troops.
He spent the next seven years and seven months as a prisoner of war, suffering severe mistreatment and becoming the first U.S. military captive to be subjected to four years of solitary confinement.
A Commander when he was shot down, Denton was recommended for and promoted to the rank of Captain while a prisoner. He was confined at several prison camps in and around Hanoi, frequently acting as the senior American military officer of all American POW’s.
Denton’s name first came to the attention of the American public in 1966, during a television interview arranged by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi. Prior to the interview, torture and threats of more torture were applied to intimidate him to “respond properly and politely.” His captors thought he was softened up sufficiently to give the North Vietnamese their propaganda line at the interview attended by important Communist officials from several countries and by Wilfred Birchett, an internationally known Communist author.
During the interview, after the Japanese interviewer’s recitation of alleged U.S. “war atrocities,” Denton was asked about his support of U.S. policy concerning the war. He replied: “I don’t know what is happening now in Vietnam, because the only news sources I have are North Vietnamese, but whatever the position of my government is, I believe in it, I support it, and I will support it as long as I live.” The audience was aghast at his unexpected answer and the room went dead silent.
Without comment, the Vietnamese then renewed the rest of the interview which consisted of a free-flowing debate between Birchett and Denton.
Throughout the interview, while responding to questions and feigning sensitivity to harsh lighting, Denton blinked his eyes in Morse Code, repeatedly spelling out a covert message: T-O-R-T-U-R-E. The interview, which the Japanese journalist clandestinely took from Hanoi to Tokyo and sold to ABC was broadcast on American television on May 17, 1966[. It] was the first confirmation that American POWs in Vietnam were being tortured.
Denton did not learn until his release that the interview had been shown in the U.S. And the Vietnamese had waited a week or so to punish him for his “misbehavior” at the interview. It was the worst torture session Denton endured during his time there; the guards assigned to two hour shifts watching the all-night torture each shed tears they could not hide.
Denton was released on February 12, 1973, when he again received international attention as the spokesman for the first group of POWs returning from Hanoi to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. Denton was advised that as the senior POW onboard, he might be expected to say something on behalf of the group upon arrival. As he stepped from the plane, Denton turned to the microphone and said: “We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country under difficult circumstances. We are profoundly grateful to our Commander-in-Chief and to our nation for this day. God bless America.”
The video below captures this incredible story, also recounted in Denton’s memoir When Hell Was In Session.
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
Admiral Denton was elected to the Senate from Alabama in the Reagan landslide of 1980. He served one term in office. In his first State of the Union Address in January 1982, President Reagan saluted Denton:
We don’t have to turn to our history books for heroes. They’re all around us. One who sits among you here tonight epitomized that heroism at the end of the longest imprisonment ever inflicted on men of our armed forces. Who will ever forget that night when we waited for television to bring us the scene of that first plane landing at Clark Field in the Philippines bringing our P.O.W.’s home. The plane door opened and Jeremiah Denton came slowly down the ramp. He caught sight of our flag, saluted it, said, “God bless America,” and then thanked us for bringing him home.
Putting the emphasis on Denton thanking “us,” President Reagan was making the point that it is we who owed him a debt of gratitude. Were it not for the example of men such as Admiral Denton, we might never know the meaning or contours — the outer limits — of the virtue of courage.
The New York Sun has posted a stirring tribute. The Sun describes the brief video clip of Admiral Denton blinking out T-O-R-T-U-R-E as “one of the most astonishing film clips in American history.”
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
The New York Times obituary is here, the Washington Post obituary is here. RIP.
God bless and forever hold him dear.
Great hero and patriot.
It is unimaginable that this man was not awarded the Medal of Honor.
Hell’s always been in session; he was unfortunate enough to find himself pulled into such a session.
The US shouldn’t have messed lightly with this, if it got involved at all. Maybe there were good reasons to be involved but surely those reasons don’t include JFK’s hot temper. If you go into hell, don’t pussyfoot around with it; stomp it flat at every opportunity.
And that his Naval polar opposite is our Secretary of State.
The war could have been over by 1967..if we had actually attacked NVA with enough resources. NVA was just not as prepared to fight in the early years.
They weren’t getting much supplies from China..the warlords took the supplies that were shipped into southern China and we should have blockages NVA and refused to let the Russian ships in. I remember watching the Russian freighters steam by us in the Gulf of Tonkin. Instead we tried fighting a war of attrition..ignoring the things we were taught about warfare. We should never have allowed NVA to continue to fight the war in the South.
Cold war fears may have had something to do with it. Nobody knew if Russia was nuts enough to really want to nuke a large part of the globe.
Just the story of open defiance in a public broadcast while blinking torture should be reason to reopen his case.
That was a level of military courage and fidelity that, as this article says, “The New York Sun has posted a stirring tribute. The Sun describes the brief video clip of Admiral Denton blinking out T-O-R-T-U-R-E as “one of the most astonishing film clips in American history.”
It’s a shame this would be posthumous, but what’s right is right.
Well the Obama administration would be no help here. If the GOP takes 2016 then maybe.
thank you for the post. i had already forgotten this great and godly man.
One of my heroes in life. Him and Adm. Stockdale.
Lessons in how to conduct yourself in bad situations, if one can even emulate them. Don’t know if I could, but I hope if called, I have a shot at answering that call as well as they did.
They do, however, set a standard to strive for.
From Adm. Stockdale:
This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
In the early 1980’s, he came to my middle school and spoke. It made an impression on me for sure.
All of those men were amazing (even McCain).
I’ve also read a book by Everett Alvarez, who was held for 8 years. He described being taken to a stadium, to be paraded in front of the North Vietnamese people. He has to use the restroom...and for the first time in years he used a modern bathroom...with a mirror! He described how deflating it was to see how awful he looked and how fast he had aged.
Very amazing men.
I was Morse code technical advisor on “Charlie’s Angels” back around 2000. I spent about an hour alone with Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu telling them this story about Denton. They seemed very moved. They were very diligent pupils, and were very nice to me throughout. But the scene really didn’t turn out so well, as the movie in general didn’t either. But I was always glad that I was able to structure this particular lesson with Denton in mind.
I agree 100%.
I do not think the current pres[id]ent of the United States has, to date, chosen to honor Admiral Jeremiah Denton in any way. I did not expect him to, and I do not expect him to at any point in the future.
However, presidential decree or no presidential decree, my family is giving this hero the respect he deserves. Last Friday, as soon as I heard the news of Admiral Denton’s death, I lowered the flags I fly at my home to half-staff. They will remain there until April 6, at the earliest.
I don’t see anything official, but Edwards AFB has the flags at half staff and they’ve been since Friday...
I receive all presidential flag orders, and all flag orders issued by the governor of Virginia by email.
As of this morning, I’ve received nothing from either office.
His quote has been my tagline ever since I joined Free Republic. What a great man. Godspeed, Admiral.
I spent about an hour alone with Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu telling them this story about Denton
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