The air was tense as North Vietnamese officials prepared to put Commander
Jeremiah Denton in front of television cameras for a propaganda broadcast in May of 1966.
Denton had been a prisoner of war for almost a year, and he was asked to behave and do as he
was told. For a while, he obeyed and followed the instructions, but when he was asked about
the United States’ involvement in the war effort in Vietnam, Denton went off script
and expressed unwavering support for his country, much to the disgust of his captors.
The officials then noticed Denton doing something rather strange: it looked as if the American
prisoner was uncontrollably blinking, but he blamed the camera lights and kept going.
In reality, Denton was sending a Morse code message with his eyes, hoping that someone
back home would notice. The word spelled ‘TORTURE,’ and it was the first time the
entire world realized that the prisoners of war were being severely mistreated by the Communists.
The US Office of Naval Intelligence would readily take action,
but so would the North Vietnamese officers who held Denton captive...
Hanoi Hilton
In the late 19th century, the French built a prison in Hanoi, Vietnam.
They named it Maison Centrale, or Central House, the destination for the most dangerous detainees.
Intended to hold Vietnamese political prisoners who rallied for independence,
the building was a place of torture and execution.
In the words of historian Alvin Townley: (QUOTE) “It was a nasty, dirty, depressing place.”
Hundreds of prisoners often overcrowded the underserved facilities, and the inmates were
held in subhuman conditions. The prison eventually became a symbol of colonialism and exploitation,
reflecting the Vietnamese’s extreme bitterness and resentment towards the French.
Among the locals, the prison was called Hỏa Lò, meaning ‘fiery furnace,’
but an alternate translation gives it a more accurate description: ‘Hell’s Hole.’
The prison’s central location allowed Hỏa Lò to take center stage in the early Communist days of
North Vietnam, and several future radical leaders spent time in it during the 1930s and 1940s.
After the Geneva Accords in the mid-1950s, the French finally pulled out of the Vietnamese
capital, and Hỏa Lò came under the control of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
The facilities then became a venue for indoctrination.
A decade later and well into the war, the first American pilots began to land
in North Vietnamese territory, and the prisoners of war started to pile up.
Many local jailers had been inmates themselves and were aware of how the prison functioned.
Furthermore, they immediately sought the opportunity to use
the captives in propaganda efforts.
As former prisoners, the jailers understood the importance of separating the inmates
to prevent them from communicating with each other and forming a community.
By isolating individuals and depriving them of mutual support, they could be easily broken.
However, the astute prisoners found ways to communicate through the
walls or with signs and secret messages hidden in key places.
One such message was written on a piece of toilet paper in the latrine area; an inside
joke to cheer their fellow prisoners. The message read: (QUOTE) “Welcome to the Hanoi Hilton.”
The Vietnamese expected to coerce the Americans into their anti-war narrative,
but, as Townley explained: (QUOTE) “What they didn’t count on was how difficult it was going
to be to get any kind of propaganda out of these POWs, particularly guys like Jeremiah Denton.”
Unyielding
Jeremiah Andrew Denton Jr. was born in July of 1924 in Mobile, Alabama,
and attended a parochial high school where he excelled in Athletics.
Afterward, he entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland,
and graduated with honors in Engineering just as World War 2 was coming to an end.
In 1946, he married Kathryn Jane Maury, and they had seven children. Years later, he became a pilot
and served as a flight instructor, test pilot, and squadron leader. Denton then continued his
studies and became an expert on airborne electronics and anti-submarine warfare.
By 1964, he had earned a Master’s Degree in International Affairs.
And then, at the age of 41, Denton was deployed to Vietnam.
On July 18, 1965, Denton was leading a squadron of 28 A-6 Intruders over North Vietnam
in what was his 12th mission. The group took off from the aircraft carrier Independence in
the South China Sea, aiming at a military complex in Thanh Hoa, south of Hanoi,
or what the Vietnamese called the ‘Dragon’s Jaw.’
On approaching an intensely defended bridge on the Ma River, the fleet faced heavy anti-aircraft
fire. Suddenly, Denton’s guidance system was out, and the Intruder went into a tailspin.
A shock of pain rippled through the pilot’s left leg. With a ruptured tendon,
he struggled to stabilize the machine, but all his efforts were futile. Together with his navigator,
Lieutenant Bill Tschudy, the crew bailed out and landed in enemy territory.
Denton later recalled: (QUOTE) “Dazed and bleeding as I was, my principal emotion was fury.
I was mad as hell at being shot down, and even angrier at being captured.”
For ten months, Denton endured beatings, starvation, and forthright torture at
Hỏa Lò, but as a senior officer, he was regarded as still on duty even in captivity.
Denton then rose to the circumstances and led the other inmates with his example.
There was still a tangible chain of command within the Hanoi Hilton walls.
Pentagon historians would later state that: (QUOTE) “They still had a soldierly
function to perform-to disrupt, to stymie, to exhaust the enemy, finally to defeat him,
in this case on the battlefield of propaganda and psychological warfare.”
Because of his stature, Denton was eventually chosen to appear on a television broadcast
that would serve as propaganda. The officer was beaten up for days before the interview
in an attempt to have him cooperate with their wishes. Still, Denton would not yield.
The commander was put in front of the cameras on May 17, 1966. At first, he
answered the questions from a supposedly-neutral Japanese interviewer with defiance and dignity.
However, as he was asked about the alleged war atrocities committed by the Americans,
he assuredly replied: (QUOTE) “I don’t know what is happening 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.”
While answering the interviewer’s questions, Denton then began blinking in a seemingly random
fashion. His captors questioned him about it, but he pretended to be annoyed by the camera lights.
Unbeknownst to the North Vietnamese officers, Denton was actually using a series of short and
long blinks to relay a message in Morse code. The word spelled ‘T-O-R-T-U-R-E.’
The world was watching,
and it immediately became conclusive proof of Communist mistreatment in POW camps.
Consequences
After translating Denton’s message, the world now knew for sure that
the North Vietnamese were severely mistreating the captured soldiers
in violation of international agreements. In fact, the most significant known
cases of systematic torture during the conflict happened between 1965 and 1969.
After the interview, the Nixon Administration publicly denounced the mistreatment,
and the prisoners’ conditions mildly improved.
However, when the Communists realized what Denton had done, he was harshly beaten and punished.
Then, in July of that same year, he was forced to participate in the infamous Hanoi March,
when 52 American prisoners of war were blindfolded, handcuffed, and forced to
parade through downtown Hanoi while being humiliated and hit by items thrown by the public.
Prodded at the point of bayonets,
the Americans were used as props in a show for an audience of up to 100,000 spectators.
Denton was transferred several times and served time in different prisons across the country,
spending four years in solitary confinement and sometimes being placed in coffin-like boxes.
Often punished for encouraging others to resist, he was also the subject of harsher discipline
methods than his fellow soldiers. Still, he kept his morale high and tried to inspire
others while tapping a wall, communicating by signs, or even coughing signals in sequence.
During his captivity, Denton was awarded the Navy Cross and promoted to Captain.
He remained in jail until 1973, when President Richard Nixon announced a peace agreement
and the captain was among the first prisoners to be released.
After being imprisoned for seven and a half years, Denton was finally released on February 12, 1973.
Freedom
Upon his arrival in the Philippines, the captain joyfully declared: (QUOTE) “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.”
Denton eventually wrote a memoir in 1976 titled ‘When Hell Was in
Session,’ which was later adapted into a television movie with actor Hal Holbrook.
The captain was also promoted to Rear Admiral, and then appointed commandant of
the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. He retired from military service
in 1977 and devoted part of his life to promoting Christian and family values.
In 1980, Denton was elected to the Senate representing
his home state of Alabama and served for 7 years.
He passed away as a war hero at the age of 89,
leaving behind a testament of hope and courage for the generations to come:
(QUOTE) “If I had known when I was shot down that I would be there more than seven years,
I would have died of despondency, of despair. But I didn't. It was one minute at a time,
one hour, one week, one year and so on. If you look at it like that, anybody can do anything.”
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