Jeremiah Denton Jeremiah Andrew Denton Jr . ( born July 15 , 1924 ) is a retired United States Rear Admiral and a former United States Senator from the state of Alabama . He spent almost eight years as a Prisoner of War ( POW ) in North Vietnam and later wrote a book which became a film about those experiences . Military career . Denton attended McGill Institute and Springhill College in Mobile , Alabama . In June 1943 , he entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland , and graduated three years later in the accelerated Class of 1947 . His 34 - year naval career included service on a variety of ships and on aircraft , including airships ( blimps ) . His principal field of endeavor was naval operations . He also served as a test pilot , flight instructor , and commanding officer of an attack squadron flying the A - 6 Intruder . In 1957 , he was credited with revolutionizing naval strategy and tactics for nuclear war as architect of the " Haystack Concept . " This strategy called for concealing aircraft carriers from radar by intermingling with commercial shipping and avoiding formations suggestive of a naval fleet . The strategy was simulated in maneuvers and demonstrated effectiveness , allowing two aircraft carrier fleets thirty - five simulated atomic launches before aggressor aircraft and submarines could repel them . He went on to serve on the staff of the Sixth Fleet at the rank of Commander as Fleet Air Defense Officer . Denton graduated from the Armed Forces Staff College and the Naval War College , where his thesis on international affairs received top honors by earning the prestigious President ' s Award . In 1964 , he received the degree of Master of Arts in International Affairs from George Washington University in Washington , D . C . Prisoner of War ( POW ) . Denton served as United States Naval Aviator during the Vietnam War and was the Commanding Officer ( CO ) of Attack Squadron Seventy - Five ( VA - 75 ) aboard the aircraft carrier USS " Independence " ( CVA 62 ) . On 18 July 1965 , then - Commander Denton , was leading twenty - eight planes flying an A - 6A Intruder ( Bureau Number 151577 ) , off the " Independence " on a bombing mission with Lieutenant Bill Tschudy , his navigator / bombardier . Their jet was shot down over the city of Thanh Hoa in North Vietnam , and they were captured and taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese . Denton and Tschudy were both held as prisoners of war for almost eight years , four of which were spent in solitary confinement . Denton is best known for the 1966 televised press conference that he was forced into as an American POW by his North Vietnamese captors . He ingeniously used the opportunity to communicate successfully and to confirm for the first time to the U . S . Military ( naval intelligence ) and Americans that American POWs were being tortured in North Vietnam . He repeatedly blinked his eyes in Morse Code during the interview , spelling out the word , " " T - O - R - T - U - R - E " " . He was also questioned about his support for the U . S . war in Vietnam , to which he replied : " I don ' t know what is happening , but whatever the position of my government is , I support it fully . 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 . " While a prisoner , he was promoted to the rank of Captain . Denton was later awarded the Navy Cross and several other decorations mostly for heroism while a prisoner of war . Denton was put in the " Hanoi Hilton " and the " Zoo " prison and prison camp and " Little Vegas " and " Alcatraz " prisons . In " Alcatraz " , he became part of a group of American POWs known as the " Alcatraz Gang " . The group consisted of James Mulligan , George Thomas Coker , George McKnight , James Stockdale , Harry Jenkins , Sam Johnson , Howard Rutledge , Robert Shumaker , Ronald Storz , and Nels Tanner . They were put in " Alcatraz " and solitary confinement to separate them from other POWs because their strong resistance led other POWs in resisting their captors . " Alcatraz " was a special facility in a courtyard behind the North Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense , located about one mile away from Hoa Lo Prison . Each of the American POWs spent day and night in windowless 3 feet by 9 feet cells mostly in irons . Post captivity . Denton was hospitalized briefly in the Naval Hospital at Portsmouth , Virginia , and then was assigned to the Naval Air Forces , U . S . Atlantic Fleet . In January 1974 , Denton became the commandant of the Armed Forces Staff College ( now known as the Joint Forces Staff College ) . He stepped down as commandant in April 1975 and continued to work at the college until June 1977 . He finished his service at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola , Florida , and retired from the Navy on November 1 , 1977 with the rank of Rear Admiral . He wrote his book in 1976 , " When Hell was in Session " , detailing his detention as an American POW in North Vietnam . The book later turned into a movie of the same title which starred Hal Holbrook as Denton . He accepted a position with the Christian Broadcasting Network ( CBN ) as a consultant to CBN founder and friend , Pat Robertson , from 1978 to 1980 . During his time with CBN , both Denton and Robertson repeatedly expressed military support for the Contra forces in El Salvador . In 1981 , he founded and chaired the National Forum Foundation . Political career . Denton ran as a Republican for a U . S . Senate seat from his home state of Alabama and achieved a surprise victory over Democrat Jim E . Folsom , Jr . , who had defeated the incumbent , Donald W . Stewart , in the Democratic primary . In doing so , he became the only retired admiral to be elected to the United States Senate , as well as the first Republican since Reconstruction to represent Alabama in the U . S . Senate , and the first Catholic to be elected to statewide office in Alabama . In the U . S . Senate , he compiled a solidly conservative voting record . He was featured in a 1981 article in " Time Magazine " called , " The Admiral from Alabama " . In 1986 , he narrowly lost his bid for reelection to 7th District Congressman Richard Shelby , who later became a Republican in 1994 . In 2007 , his wife Jane died . They had been married for sixty - one years . Jeremiah Denton is not related to former Alabama state senator Bobby E . Denton .