July 15, 1924

Jeremiah Denton Jr. was born on this day in 1924 in Mobile. Throughout his time in college, Denton served in the ROTC, and joined the Navy after graduating. While running a bombing mission during the Vietnam War, Denton was shot down and captured as a prisoner of war (POW). Denton is remembered for famously blinking “T-O-R-T-U-R-E” in Morse Code while being interviewed for a piece of North Vietnamese propaganda. Once Denton returned home to Mobile, he received many military decorations from the Navy. In 1980 Denton ran for U.S. Senate and won, where he served from 1981 until 1987.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Mobile native and Vietnam War hero Jeremiah A. Denton Jr. (1924-2014) represented Alabama in the U.S. Senate from 1981-1987. He attained the rank of rear admiral in the U.S. Navy and was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for 91 months. Denton was the first Republican U.S. senator from Alabama since Reconstruction. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, National Archives, General Records of the Department of the Navy)

Footage of the film taken by Japanese journalists in 1966 showing Capt. Jeremiah Denton Jr. during his 91-month ordeal as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, National Archives)

U.S. Navy Captain Jeremiah Denton at his welcome home ceremony at Clark Air Base, Philippines, shortly after his release as a POW in Hanoi, February 1973. (Wikimedia, U.S. Military/Department of Defense)

Official photo of U.S. Sen. Jeremiah Denton (R-AL). (Wikimedia, U.S. Congress)

President Ronald Reagan talks with Republican U.S. Sen. Jeremiah Denton of Alabama, 1987. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.