The POW who blinked a secret message on TV
The Vietnam War
The year was 1965, and the Vietnam War
was heating up for the U.S Forces. A group of Naval A-6 Intruder.
All weather attack aircraft
has taken off from the aircraft carrier U.S.S Independence
They were on a bombing mission, assigned to attack hostile military installations
The squad of attacking aircrafts were deep inside North Vietnam territory
Near Ha Noi
When the lead aircraft was hit by enemy Anti Aircraft fire
Causing the plane to plummet out of control, and crashing into the ground below
Luckily, both the pilot and bombardier managed to eject safely
but...
were caught short by enemy soldiers after they had landed
The pilot was 41 years-old Commander Jeremiah Denton
An academic who had won the renowned
President's Award for his thesis on international affairs
Before being deployed to Vietnam, he was an accomplished and respected strategist
who has served as the fleet Air Defense Officer with the 6th fleet
In 1966, after a year in captivity. Denton and a large group
of american Prisoners Of War
were paraded through the streets of Hanoi
for Propaganda purposes
being beaten and harassed by a large civilian crowd that lined the route
at one stage, even the north Vietnamese soldiers guarding the POW were fearful
the crowd might kill the American prisoners
On another occasion. Denton was forced to take part
in a North Vietnamese stage Television Conference
He said the conditions were adequate in the camps
But backed the US Government's policies, refusing to condemn
their involvement in the Vietnam War in defiance
of his captors' instructions
During the televised interview, Denton managed to
blink a Morse code message spelled out "TORTURE"
He did this by pretending the glare of
the TV light
was bothering his eyes
Remarkably, the message was picked up by US Naval Intelligence
And was the first time that the American Millitary had conclusive proof
of the mistreatment of American POW
by the North Vietnamese
It is thought that the interviewer was a Japanese Journalist
brought in to give the appearance of neutrality
Denton seemed to want to get across his "TORTURE" message
at any costs so he gave
luke warm answers to their questions in order to get his interview broadcast
but he made sure his answers would be of
little propaganda value by saying the conditions in the camps
were "adequate" and a very diplomatic answer about his government's
involvement in the war
Denton was later to say that he did not like
talking about his imprisonment experiences as
he always had terrible nightmares for days afterwards
Denton spent a total of 8 years in North Vietnamese POW camps
enduring much cruelty
he was systematically starved
tortured, beaten, isolated
and humiliated
Denton was mostly kept at the prison camp nick named "Hanoi Hillton"
ironically called that by the prisoners in a sarcastic
reference to the US luxury
Hillton Hotel chain
It was probably the worst of the prison camp,
as the was widespread torture taking place there
including sensory deprivation, electric shock torture
mind games and various different types of beating
US POW generally endured
terrible conditions while in captivity here, despite the claim by the North Vietnamese
that they abided by the Geneva Convention
claiming they treated the POW extremely well
but during all this time he showed incredible leadership and courage
for 4 of those years he was kept in solitary confinement
at one stage, being kept alone in
a 3 foot
by 9 foot
windowless cell
on February 12, 1973, when the Vietnam War
finally winding down, Denton was released
and returned home
he was awarded the prestigious Navy Cross
for his bravery while in captivity
Hey Simple History fans, if you are looking for a
better way to support the channel and help us create
more epic contents, consider becoming a member on our channel
becoming a member means that for just 5 bucks a month
you'll get these amazing perks
you'll be the first to see new episodes with early access
you can watch new episodes before anyone else
with this perk. the enlisted badge - a custom icon
that shows alongside your username in the comment section
and in live chat
as a member, you'll become an influencer with member-only comments
you can communicate directly with us and help us
pick the topics that we'll do next on Simple History
And remember it's not mandatory to become a member
our awesome videos will be uploaded as usual
thank you for letting us feed your hunger for history