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Re: Denton Inducted Into Hall of Honor

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: August 02, 2003

"Denton to join Alabama Military Hall of Honor

One-time prisoner of war became senator from state

By GEORGE WERNETH Staff Reporter

Retired Navy Rear Adm. Jeremiah Denton of Mobile, who endured seven years and seven months as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, has been selected to be inducted into the Alabama Military Hall of Honor.
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Denton is scheduled to be inducted into the hall Oct. 31 on the grounds of Marion Military Institute in west-central Alabama.

Denton, who was a leader of other POWs in Hanoi, later became a U.S. senator from Alabama.

He was shot down April 28, 1965, while leading an air strike over North Vietnam. The citation accompanying the announcement of Denton's selection, noted, "For the next seven years and seven months, he was severely mistreated, to include four years in solitary confinement. During a TV interview in May 1966, he was able to transmit, via eye Morse Code, the word 'torture,' sending this message to the world" that the POWs were being abused.

After the POWs were released in 1973, Denton was chosen to speak first on their behalf. The Mobilian said, in part: "We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country under difficult circumstances."

He received numerous awards for heroism, including the Navy Cross.

Chosen posthumously for induction into the Hall of Honor were five brothers from the Montgomery area who are the only five brothers from one family to ever graduate from the Naval Academy, literature accompanying their selection said. The five Crommelin brothers all served in World War II, and two of them died in combat.

The five were Vice Adm. Henry Crommelin, Rear Adm. John G. Crommelin III, Capt. Quentin C. Crommelin, Cmdr. Charles L. Crommelin and Lt. Cmdr. Richard G. Crommelin.

Charles and Richard Crommelin were killed in action, and the other three brothers "continued distinguished Naval careers until retirement." The five brothers saw action in more than 10 campaigns in the Pacific Theater, where they attained "outstanding combat records and received multiple decorations," the Hall of Honor literature said.

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