By
Attorney Rees Lloyd
April 1, 2014
NewsWithViews.com
America has lost one of its greatest native sons, Rear Admiral Jeremiah A. Denton (USN, ret.) who epitomized all that is good and great in the American patriotic character as a warrior, statesman and humanitarian. He was an extraordinary American patriot who lived his life in service to God and Country.
Adm. Denton, one of America's greatest military heroes, died on March 28, 2014, in his 89th year. But his example of undaunted courage in combat and in almost eight torture-filled years as a Prisoner of War in Vietnam, will live through the ages as a testament to what can be accomplished through love of family, love of country, and unconquerable faith in God.
It was his faith in God that Adm. Denton attested enabled him to survive the unspeakable torture he and other American POW's endured for resisting demands of their communist captors to denounce and repudiate their country.
That the communists were in fact torturing American POW's in violation of the Geneva Accords was first definitively exposed and confirmed by POW Jeremiah Denton in a now famous act that almost cost him his life. In May, 1966, when the communists attempted to use him for propaganda purposes through a Japanese television documentary intended to show communist benevolence to the POW's, Denton blinked repeatedly as if the bright light bothered his eyes. In fact, he was blinking "T-O-R-T-U-R-E" in Morse Code. After the broadcast, when the communists realized that Denton had duped them, he was tortured so horrendously that he was near death—and actually wishedd to die to end it.
He powerfully exposed war crime torture by the communists in the now classic book he authored: When Hell Was In Session. It is a book which ought to be read in every American schoolroom, and every American home. (A new edition, with an epilogue containing Adm. Denton's thoughts on the current American condition, has been published by WND Books.)
It was Adm. Denton's service in defense of American freedom in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, including during his long captivity as a POW from July 18, 1965, to Feb. 13, 1975, some four (4) years of which was in solitary confinement due to his leadership of resisting POW's, which led him to be universally respected by his fellow POW's, and to be hailed by former President Ronald Reagan as "a great hero."
What Adm. Denton did as a warrior, and how he was respected as a leader by POW's who resisted their communist torturers, is confirmed and illuminated by author Alvin Townley in his just published epic account of POW's courage and sacrifice: "DEFIANT: The POWs Who Endured Vietnam's Most Infamous Prison, The Women Who Fought For Them, And The One Who Never Returned."
When finally released on Feb. 13, 1975, Denton was chosen to speak for his fellow POW's when they stepped off the plane at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. The heartfelt simplicity of Denton's words are a reflection of his modesty, his essential goodness, his soul: "We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our county under difficult circumstances. We are profoundly grateful to our commander in chief and to our nation for this day," Denton said, then added with emotion: "God bless America."
Under difficult circumstances? Never has there been a greater understatement. To begin to appreciate how excruciatingly "difficult" the circumstances of our POW's were under the communists, read Denton's "When Hell Was In Session," first published in 1975; or Alvin Townley's "DEFIANT," published in 2014, confirming Denton's account and detailing just how "difficult," how horrendous, were those "difficult circumstances," for American POW's, and for their families back home.
Those families, including Denton's beloved wife Jane, (who predeceased him several years ago) and their seven children, did not know for years even if their loved ones were alive or dead. The so-called "Best And Brightest" Ivy League liberals of Lyndon Johnson's Democrat regime urged them not to protest against treatment of the POW's so as not to provoke the communists to even more atrocities. Meanwhile, the media ignored the issue of the treatment of the POW's and printed and broadcast endless reports of Jane Fonda, John Kerry, and other progressive liberals praising the communists and denouncing the U.S. and American warriors as "war criminals." (Alvin Townley in "DEFIANT" tells the story of the rebellion of the wives and families against the "gag order" and their creation of a successful campaign to awaken the world to the torture of American Pow's.)
Jeremiah Denton contends that it was love of family, country, and most importantly, his faith in God that saved his life, and sanity, as a POW. While he was an heroic American warrior, he was, after his release and return to freedom, also a statesman of vision. He was the first Republican to be elected to the U.S. Senate from the State of Alabama. He was a humanitarian to the end of his days through his Admiral Denton Legacy Initiatives (formerly, the Admiral Jeremiah Denton Foundation) whose good works will continue even with his passing. (See, www.AdmiralDenton.org,).
I consider it one of the blessings of my life to have had the honor to have been able to work with Adm. Denton, in a small way, considering the multitude of good works in which he was involved. But it had a very large impact on me. Jeremiah Denton was not only a great man, but a good one, and history has shown that it is more rare than common that great men are also good men.
In 2006, I had the honor of working with Adm. Denton and another great and good man, Maj. Gen. Patrick H. Brady, USA (ret.), Medal of Honor (Vietnam). I was the "go-between" in the drafting and crafting of what went to Congress as the Joint Statement Of Rear Admiral Jeremiah A. Denton (USN, ret.) and Maj. Gen. Patrick H. Brady (USA, ret), In Support Of Passage Of The Veterans Memorials, Boy Scouts, Public Seals And Other Public Expressions Of Religion Act ("PERA").
PERA was sponsored by former-Congressman John Hostettler of Indiana (8th Dis.), and The American Legion as citizen sponsor. PERA would rescind the authority of judges to award taxpayer-paid attorney fees to the ACLU, or anyone else, in Establishment of Religion Clause litigation attacks on public expression of religion or symbols with a religious aspect, most often the Cross. That would allow defendant public bodies not to surrender to the ACLU's secular-cleansing demands to destroy Crosses or ban the Ten Commandments or other public expressions of religion for fear of precious taxpayer funds being diverted to pay ACLU fees, often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars by which ACLU profits at tax-payer expense
The American Legion hand-delivered the Joint Statement of Adm. Denton and Gen. Brady to every member of the House and Senate the day before the House vote. To the shock of many, PERA passed the House overwhelmingly. Many credited Adm. Denton and Gen. Brady for persuading Representatives to vote for the PERA Bill. Unfortunately, however, Arlen Specter, then-Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman (later Democrat candidate for the Senate), blocked PERA from being voted on before the November 2006 elections. The Democrats took control of Congress and have refused since then to bring PERA up for a hearing or vote.
After that work in 2006, I had the opportunity to work with Adm. Denton, who was also chair of the advisory board of The Thomas More Law Center [www.thomasmore.org]. These efforts included the fight against the ACLU to save the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial Cross (ACLU surrendered in 2012 after ten years of litigation) and to save the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial Cross (now in the 24th year of litigation by the secular extremists of the ACLU).
What I am most thankful for is having been able to initiate and participate in the establishment by The American Legion Department of California, and Thomas More Law Center, of a plaque in honor of Adm. Denton at the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial on National POW/MIA Day 2008. (Attached above and below.)
This granite plaque erected by his comrade wartime veterans of The American Legion to honor Rear Admiral Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr., shall stand for generations, beneath the Cross honoring veterans at Mt. Soledad, allowing future Americans to learn of his exemplary life lived in service to God and Country, a life to be emulated if we are to remain free, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
On Feb. 3, 2014, Adm. Denton joined California American Legionnaires in honoring the Immortal Four Chaplains with a plaque at Mt. Soledad. The Four Chaplains gave their lives "so others may" live by taking off their life jackets and putting them on soldiers without them when the troop ship Dorchester was torpedoed and sunk on Feb. 3, 1943 in WWII as it transported troops to Greenland. Adm. Denton sent a tribute statement which was read at the dedication ceremonies. The words he wrote about their courage, could be applied to the kind of courage he and other POW's demonstrated in captivity:
"The Four Chaplains proved their faith with ultimate sacrifice - not in a flash of combatant action - but with peaceful discernment, humble devotion and extraordinary valor. They lived this life knowing God's real presence and eternal promise. Blessed with men of this caliber, our nation must do the same."
I first read Adm. Denton's "When Hell Was In Session" back in 1997. The horrors of the torture he endured, how he fought back despite those horrible tortures, often wishing for death to end the pain, and how, somehow, he remained human through it all, was and is awe inspiring. But, what struck me most of all was the love this man expressed for our country, and for us, in the gentle words of the dedication of his book. From that day to this, those words of Jeremiah A. Denton have been taped to my desk, as they say so much about who and what Jeremiah Denton was, heroic yet humble, great yet good, a warrior, statesman, and humanitarian, who, after enduring as a POW the worst inhumanity of which humans are capable, would dedicate his book in these words:
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"To those who strive make this one nation under God,
who are willing to protect her,
who thank God for such great beauty
as she has developed
and who patiently tolerate her imperfections."
Those words of Jeremiah A. Denton, from his heart, touched mine. He was, indeed, a great man who is also good man. I thank God for him, and for the opportunity to have known him.
May the God Jeremiah A. Denton, warrior, statesman, and humanitarian, so faithfully served in war and in peace, bless and keep him; and may the nation he so faithfully served, and whose freedom he preserved, never forget him.
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