Chilling secret message US prisoner sends with just his eyes while being forced to do propaganda broadcast
In 1965 American pilot Jeremiah Denton was forced to eject from his plane over North Vietnam after taking damage from one of their own bombs, which exploded shortly after release.
He and his navigator, Bill Tschudy, bailed out of the plane and were soon taken prisoner, remaining in captivity for almost eight years with four of those in solitary confinement.
A year after he became a prisoner of war, Denton was forced to participate in a televised press conference, and used the opportunity to send a message by using Morse code.
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While he said he was receiving 'adequate food, clothing and medical care' as part of a propaganda campaign meant to show human rights laws weren't being broken, Denton's eyes told the truth through a series of timed blinks.
He pretended he was having difficulty with the lights and started blinking out his message in Morse code.
Denton spelled out the word T-O-R-T-U-R-E to get the message out that American POWs were being tortured in North Vietnam.
During the press conference he also expressed support for the US war effort in Vietnam when asked.
"I don't know what is happening but whatever the position of my government is, I support it," he said.
"Whatever the position of my government, I believe in it, yes, sir. I am a member of that government, and it is my job to support it, and I will as long as I live."
Denton and Tschudy were released in 1973 as part of Operation Homecoming, and he would eventually retire from the US Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral.
He later became a Republican senator for his home state of Alabama, representing his state between 1981 and 1987.
Denton spoke about the torture he experienced while a prisoner of war in a 1979 interview with the LA Times.
He said: "They beat you with fists and fan belts.
"They warmed you up and threatened you with death. Then they really got serious and gave you something called the rope trick."
He explained that the 'rope trick' involved using ropes to cut off the circulation to his limbs, which resulted in no feeling in his fingertips and painful muscular spasms.
He died at the age of 89 in 2014, and five years later the US Navy announced that one of their new ships would be named after him.
Construction on the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Jeremiah Denton began in 2022.
Joe Harker