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REAR ADMIRAL JEREMIAH A. DENTON JR., USN (RET)** & UNITED STATE'S SENATOR A former United States Senator representing the state of Alabama. Graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1946, the Admiral entered flight training and became a naval aviator. Initially assigned to lighter-than-air operations, flying "blimps," on radar picket and long-range patrol duties. Following a two year tour on airships, the Admiral transitioned to flying multi-engine patrol aircraft, and then eventually to the naval attack community where he flew the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. Admiral Denton has also served as a flight instructor and naval test pilot. In June 1965, the Admiral was assigned to the waters off Vietnam aboard the aircraft carrier the USS Independence, to assume command of a Grumman A-6 Intruder attack bomber squadron. The following month, while leading a strike mission over North Vietnam, the Admiral was shot down and taken prisoner. Admiral Denton would spend more than seven years and a half years as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese. Throughout his long captivity, the Admiral defiantly resisted body-breaking torture and severe mistreatment at the hands of the North Vietnamese, who were determined to break his spirit and force him into making statements that would condemn the United States. At the conclusion of the Vietnam War and his release from captivity, the Admiral was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral and awarded America's second highest military award for valor, the Navy Cross, awarded for gallantry displayed as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese. His final active duty assignment was as the Commandant of the Armed Forces Staff College. In 1981, the Admiral was elected to the United States Senate. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan appointed Admiral Denton as the Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Merchant Marine Defense. |
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