In an op-ed piece in today's NY Post, Rich Lowry eulogized an American hero. Here is the gist of it, pared a little by yours truly:
"Jeremiah Denton, the Vietnam War POW who died Friday at age 89, uttered one of the great statements of defiance in American history. In 1965 he was shot down during a bombing run over North Vietnam. He became a captive for more than seven years and endured unimaginable torture, humiliation and isolation, yet managed to retain his dignity and spirit even as his captors went to hideous lengths to snuff them out. He was taken to Hoa Lo Prison, or the Hanoi Hilton, where he led the resistance to the enemy's efforts to extract propaganda confessions from prisoners. As Denton related in his book, When Hell Was in Session, they tried to starve one out of him. After days he began to hallucinate, but he still refused. They took him to what was called the Meathook Room and beat him. Then they twisted his arms with ropes and relented just enough to keep him from passing out. They rolled an iron bar on his legs and jumped up and down on it for hours. He agreed finally to give them a little of what they wanted, but at first his hands were too weak to write and his voice too weak to speak. He hadn’t recovered from this ordeal when the Vietnamese told him he would appear at a press conference. He told a fellow POW that his plan was to 'blow it wide open.' He blinked T-O-R-T-U-R-E in Morse code during the interview, a message picked up by Naval Intelligence and the first definitive word of what the prisoners were suffering. When asked what he thought of his government’s war, Denton replied: 'Whatever the position of my government is, I believe in it, yes sir. I’m a member of that government, and it’s my job to support it, and I will as long as I live.' Those words are not an embellishment. They were seen by millions when they were broadcast in the United States, and he almost immediately paid for them in torment so horrifying that he desperately prayed he wouldn’t go insane. For two years he was confined in what was dubbed 'Alcatraz,' reserved for the 'darkest criminals who persist in inciting the other criminals to oppose the Camp Authority.' Alvin Townley, author of the book Defiant, writes of the Alcatraz prisoners and their wives back in the States: 'Together, they overcame more intense hardship over more years than any other group of servicemen and families in American history.' When American involvement in the war ended and the POWs finally were released, Denton made a brief statement on the tarmac upon his return, no less powerful for its simplicity and understatement: 'We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country under difficult circumstances. We are profoundly grateful to our commander in chief and to our nation for this day. God bless America.' A Roman Catholic, Denton told his family that he had forgiven his captors and, after recounting to them what he had gone through his first night back, that he didn’t want to speak to them of it again. His son James says he often heard him say — with typical modesty — 'That’s over. I don’t want to be a professional jailbird.' He certainly wasn’t that. Denton went on to become a US senator from Alabama. With his passing, we’ve lost a hero whose example of faithfulness and duty should be for the ages."
RIP, sir. Thank you doesn't say nearly enough. And kudos to Mr. Lowry.
For the first time in at least two weeks it was an easy weather day for the floating book shop. I did about a 50-50 split between books in Russian and English. Thanks, folks.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
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