FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: Jeremiah Denton ~ 16 January 2017

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | StarCMC and The Canteen Crew

[Kathy in Alaska]

 

Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday...
Thank the Veterans who served
in The United States Armed Forces.

Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States
Armed Forces Today!

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~ Hall of Heroes ~
 

Jeremiah Denton

Info from here.

 

           

Thank you, Mountainlion, for the heads up on the passing of this hero.  RIP, Mr. Denton.
 

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Jeremiah Andrew Denton Jr. (born July 15, 1924 in Mobile, Alabama) is a retired United States Navy rear admiral, naval aviator and a former Republican U.S. senator, for the state of Alabama. He spent almost eight years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and later wrote a book about his experiences.

Denton attended McGill Institute and Spring Hill College and graduated from the United States Naval Academy, class of 1947. His 34-year naval career included service on a variety of ships, in many types of aircraft, including airships (blimps). His principal field of endeavor was naval operations. He also served as a test pilot, flight instructor, and commanding officer of an attack squadron flying the A-6 Intruder.

In 1957, he was credited with revolutionizing naval strategy and tactics for nuclear war as architect of the "Haystack Concept," while serving on the staff of Commander, Sixth Fleet, as Fleet Air Defense Officer. Denton graduated from the Armed Forces Staff College and the Naval War College, where his thesis on international affairs received top honors by earning the prestigious President's Award. In 1964, he received the degree of Master of Arts in International Affairs from George Washington University.

While serving as Naval Aviator during the Vietnam War, Denton was Commanding Officer (CO) of Attack Squadron SEVENTY-FIVE (VA-75) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVA 62). On 18 July 1965, then-Commander Denton was flying an A-6A Intruder, Bureau Number 151577, from the Independence with his bombardier/navigator, Lieutenant, junior grade Bill Tschudy, to participate in a bombing mission over the Vietnamese city of Thanh Hoa. Their plane was shot down and the two men were captured by hostile forces.

Denton and Tschudy were both held as prisoners of war for almost eight years, four of which were spent in solitary confinement. Denton is best known for the 1966 North Vietnamese television interview he was forced to give as a prisoner, in which he ingeniously used the opportunity to communicate to American Intelligence. During the interview Denton blinked his eyes in morse code to spell out the word "T-O-R-T-U-R-E" to communicate that his captors were torturing him and his fellow POWs. He was also questioned about his support for the U.S. war in Vietnam, to which he replied: "I don't know what is happening, but whatever the position of my government is, I support it fully. Whatever the position of my government, I believe in it, yes sir. I am a member of that government, and it is my job to support it, and I will as long as I live." For his continuous resistance and leadership, even in the face of torture and inhumane conditions, he would be awarded the Navy Cross. While imprisoned, Denton was promoted to the rank of Captain.

Denton was part of a group of about 11 prisoners known as the "Alcatraz Gang", also consisting of George Thomas Coker, George McKnight, James Stockdale, Harry Jenkins, Sam Johnson, James Mulligan, Howard Rutledge, Robert Shumaker, Ronald Storz and Nels Tanner, which was separated from other captives and placed in solitary confinement for their leadership in resisting their captors. "Alcatraz" was a special facility in a courtyard behind the North Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense, located about one mile away from Hoa Lo Prison. In Alcatraz, each of the 11 men were kept in solitary confinement, where cells measured 3 feet by 9 feet and had a light bulb kept on around the clock; the prisoners were locked each night in irons by a guard. CAPT Denton at Clark Air Base, Philippines, after his release as a POW.

Finally, on 12 February 1973, both Denton and Tschudy were released from prison along with numerous other POWs. Stepping off the plane as a free man back in his home country, Denton 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 speech has a prominent place in the 1987 documentary Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam.

Denton's next assignment, beginning in January 1974, was as commandant of the Armed Forces Staff College (now known as the Joint Forces Staff College). He stepped down as commandant in April 1975 but continued to work at the college until he left the military in June 1977.

He retired from the Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral, and would later go on to write the book When Hell was in Session detailing his detention as a POW in Vietnam. The book was later turned into a movie of the same name starring Hal Holbrook.

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To watch the video of Jeremiah Denton's famous interview, click here.

To watch the video "An Honor To Serve," a musical tribute to Jeremiah Denton from Ray Boltz, click here.
 

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Following his retirement from the Navy, Denton accepted a position with the Christian Broadcasting Network as consultant to his friend, CBN founder Pat Robertson, a position Denton held until 1980. During this time, both Denton and Robertson repeatedly expressed military support for the Contra forces in El Salvador.

In 1980, Denton ran as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat from his home state of Alabama and achieved a surprise victory over Democrat Jim E. Folsom, Jr., who had defeated the incumbent, Donald W. Stewart, in the primary. In doing so, he became the only retired admiral to be elected to the United States Senate, as well as the first Republican in modern times to represent Alabama in the Senate. In the Senate, he compiled a solidly conservative voting record. He was featured in a 1981 article in Time Magazine called "The Admiral from Alabama".

In 1986, he narrowly lost his bid for reelection to 7th District Congressman Richard Shelby, who later became a Republican in 1994. Rear Adm. Jeremiah Andrew Denton Jr., USN (Ret.) died  on Friday, March 28, 2014, in a Virginia Beach, Va. hospice due to complications from a heart ailment, according to local press reports.

He was 89.

Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families.  This is a politics-free zone!  Thanks for helping us in our mission! 

[PROCON]

..Our cellist friend showed up..

Is that someone on prison leave? :-)

[left that other site]

LOL...The cello is probably not as deadly a weapon as my long-scale electric bass!

[radu]

Howdy, LUV.

How was your day? Did Peaches let you get any sleep? LOL
Did you get any of the rain that’s rolled across TX today? We hope to get some of it tomorrow night but aren’t holding our breath.

[radu]

Yuck! Sure does sound like a good day to just stay inside where it’s warm.

Nope, can’t tell ya it was 70 degrees here. LOL! It tried to get there but only made it to 67. We get 70s again tomorrow though. :-)
Ugly day here. Cloudy once again. It wouldn’t be so bad if the clouds would drop some rain.

My “fun” for the day was going to the nursing home to see Aunt Clara. I’d have preferred to stay home. :-)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening and , my.

[luvie]

Howdy, radu! Hope you had a good day!

We got .95 of an inch of rain last night and today! WOOHOO! It rained HARD! I loved it! Didn’t even mind getting wet when we were going to lunch after church.

I got a message from my granddaughter this morning. She had taken a picture of her little sister with bed-head and rolling her eyes at the camera. They were in Wichita, Kansas. She’s better at letting me know where they are than her parent! LOL!

[Kathy in Alaska]

LOL! It IS beautiful to look at; not so much fun to work in.

I’m glad you aren’t crazy. d:o)

[radu]

Well YAY for you getting some decent rain! ‘Bout time, huh?

So that’s how far they made it yesterday? I was wondering. Sounds like their progress isn’t all that great, no thanks to the crummy weather. I hoped they’d make it a little farther north but things aren’t a lot better there. Going to be slow going but as long as they’re careful, they should make it to WY just fine.

Sure wasn’t a good weekend for this trip, was it?

[PROCON]

HELLO!

[PROCON]

HELLO!

[PROCON]

HELLO!

[radu]

Howdy, Kathy.

I saw snow falling up there a little earlier. Looks like there might be more headed your way. Y’all need a good blanket of it on the ground with those frigid temps you’re expecting this week. Oof!

[radu]

Seems to be an echo in here. LOL!

WOOHOO! PRO wuz payin’ attention and snagged the #50!

[PROCON]

Ah, now I can go to bed with a smug feeling of beating the rowdy Canteen galz!

[radu]

LOL! Enjoy drifting off to sleep basking in your glory.

I do hope it starts warming up a bit up there soon. Just no fun running errands in that kind of weather.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, radu...I think I’ve pretty much got my new computer up and going. Now I’m finding out what I don’t have as I try to post.

No wireless and no printer and I can’t figure out why. Although I’ll keep trying, I’ll try to get my computer guy over next week.

Any excitement with the kitties today? Your back behaving?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Luv...the ingenuity, the mother of invention is astounding!

[radu]

LOL! With all the stuff you’ve accumulated over the years, it’ll take a while to get it all into your new ‘puter. At least you finally got the new one out of the box after all this time. :-)

Hope you can figure out the wireless and printer problems on your own. If not, it’ll be nice if your computer guy can get there quickly to do it.

No real excitement with the kitties today. It seems the effects of the moon have finally run down and all’s been pretty quiet. Looks like I have to make an appointment for Darla tomorrow since she’s been throwing up a lot this weekend. Probably her pancreas flared up again.

[Kathy in Alaska]

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https://jet.com/product/detail/950079a15f8e43e4b5ec7d244c314dac?jcmp=placse:cnx:NJ:Home_Garden:Dining_Entertaining:Flatware:dur:na

[luvie]

It wasn’t the best situation for sure...but he had to do it sometime, and I guess it’s always a gamble with weather.

Just got a text from my DIL saying they were north of Denver in a Best Western for the night. I’m relieved to get the note! They should make it the rest of the way tomorrow.