A Sad Good-Bye on “Welcome Home Viet Vets Day”

March 29 is designated as "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day."  It is a day for all of us to say "thank you" to those who served and died in the Vietnam conflict.  It was a war unlike any America ever fought.  It ripped the country apart and ended up with the carving of 58,000 names on the Vietnam Wall.  Still, the patriotism and heroism of those who fought cannot be denied.  And even though the veterans of the Vietnam War met scorn and derision from many segments of American society when they returned home, they are to be honored, even if belatedly, for the sacrifices they  made for our country.

It is long overdue.

Sadly, on this solemn day, we must say good-bye to one of America's greatest war heroes, Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton.  He died yesterday at the age of 89.

On July 18, 1966 then Commander Denton was shot down over North Vietnam, captured and placed in a prisoner of war camp.  He stayed there for nearly 8 years. Many times he was abused and isolated from his fellow captives.  For a two year stretch he was held in solitary confinement in a cell the size of a large refrigerator.

In one of the most brazen and inspiring acts of courage ever displayed by a military officer, Denton was dragged out to be interviewed by the foreign press in 1966.  Under the penalty of death by his captors, Denton was told to stay with the program and tell the press he was being treated well by his captors.  In an act of cold-blooded defiance Denton blinked out in Morse code the word T-O-R-T-U-R-E during his press conference so the whole world would know the poor treatment he and his fellow Americans were being subjected to in captivity.

He told his guards he was blinking because his eyes were sensitive to the light.  In fact he was "telegraphing" a message around the world that the captives were in fact being tortured in prison.  When his guards found out what his blinking eyes were really doing, Denton was beaten mercilessly.

His act was one of the most daring, bold and inspiring acts of the war.

He later served as a U.S. Senator from  Alabama.

May God Bless this American hero, may he rest in peace...and "Welcome Home" to all Vietnam veterans!

Watch Jeremiah Denton's unforgettable act of defiance below: