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The man behind one of the most courageous and unforgettable broadcasts in television history is scheduled to speak at a Feb. 13 luncheon at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
Jeremiah Denton, whose book "When Hell Was in Session" recently was republished by WND Books, will be talking about new stories included in the updated edition.
Americans were introduced to Denton in an extraordinary TV interview in 1966. A prisoner during the Vietnam War, he was interviewed for enemy propaganda purposes and expected to renounce his nation's "war crimes." Instead, his defiant statement stridently reaffirmed his support for his country. And at the same time, Denton blinked in Morse code the word "T-O-R-T-U-R-E" to alert military intelligence to the treatment he and his fellow captives were suffering.
Denton will be at "The Overlook" at the museum for the luncheon in Triangle, Va., at 1 p.m.
Lunch tickets are $18 and information is available at the museum website. Tickets are being coordinated by Pamela Dodson, museum event coordinator.
Denton's story truly is a story for our times. Amid a struggling economy, shaky leadership and pervading sense of demoralization, Denton's uplifting story of faith, courage and victory in the face of overwhelming odds is arriving in time to hopefully inspire and shape a new generation of patriots.
Denton's unbreakable spirit shone through in many examples throughout his tenure at Hanoi Hilton. Though isolated, the men developed unique, sophisticated systems to communicate and maintain a structured chain of command, helping guide military strategy for engagements to follow. Denton reported he even coded into his mail messages to officials regarding enemy activity. When the North Vietnamese moved POWs to a location Denton knew was targeted for bombing, he tipped off U.S. officials, who called off the raid.
When he stepped off the airplane returning him to America, 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."
But America had changed – dramatically.
"I saw the appearance of X-rated movies, adult magazines, massage parlors, the proliferation of drugs, promiscuity, premarital sex, and unwed mothers," Denton writes in new content of "When Hell Was in Session."
"I'd already received information on their radio, propaganda radio, which they played to us, about what our people were saying about the war, showed us Woodstock and all that, so I was prepared for some type of shock," Denton answered. "But remember in 1965, when I was shot down, the most risque thing I'd seen in the movies was when Clark Gable's Rhett Butler said to Scarlett O'Hara, 'Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.'"
Promoted to rear admiral in 1980 and elected to the U.S. Senate, Denton worked with President Reagan to fight communism in Latin America.
The book details his showdown with communist leaders in Nicaragua where he told them bluntly this was not Vietnam and President Reagan was not President Johnson.
Since Reagan's time, says Denton, "things have not gone as well." Why?
"One malady continues to worsen: the ongoing influence exerted by the misinformation campaign waged by the liberal media/academic community continues to confuse the citizenry," he writes.
The most basic principle that distinguishes America as a nation, he said, is the Declaration of Independence's assertion that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with inalienable rights.
"Nobody is interpreting rights now in terms of the Creator."
President Obama, Denton contended, is usurping the rights of God, "as did Hitler and Stalin and the emperors of Rome."
At 85, Denton is a living historical treasure whose story ranks among America's most elite accounts of bravery.
On July 18, 1965, while serving as a commanding officer in the Navy aboard the USS Independence, Commander Denton was ordered to board his twin-engine fighter jet and launch an Alpha strike against the North Vietnamese stronghold at Thanh Hoa – an area known for its heavy defenses. His aircraft was hit just as the bombs were being released and, "like Alice in Wonderland, we [Denton and his bombardier-navigator, Lieutenant Bill Tschudy] were falling from one world into another," said Denton in describing the ordeal.
Admiral Denton became the 13th American pilot captured during the Vietnam conflict.
When he blinked out "T-O-R-T-U-R-E," Denton confirmed the nation's worst fears with this clandestine communication – and then upheld our highest ideals of courage with the words he spoke clearly and unequivocally: "I don't know what is happening now in Vietnam, because the only news sources I have are Vietnamese," he said to his tormentors. "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."
In a moment Denton destroyed the enemy's attempts to humiliate him and mock his country. The enemy responded with unspeakably horrific treatment, yet throughout his seven-and-a-half-year imprisonment – four in solitary confinement – Denton refused to betray his country or stray from his faith.