Editor’s Note: This is the first in a year-long series taking a look at heroes from each state in the Union.

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Born on July 15, 1924, in Mobile, Alabama, Jeremiah Andrew Denton Jr. entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1943. He graduated on June 5, 1946, beginning a distinguished 34-year naval career that included developing the “Haystack Concept,” a revolutionary strategy that concealed aircraft carriers from radar by intermingling with commercial shipping and avoiding formations that suggested the presence of a naval fleet.

In 1965, Denton found himself in the South China Sea aboard the USS Independence as a naval aviator at the beginning of the Vietnam War. A commander, Denton was selected to command Attack Squadron 75, piloting a Grumman A-6 Intruder attack aircraft.

It was in Vietnam that his life would take a drastic change.

On July 18, 1965, while leading a bombing mission over North Vietnam, his plane took several critical hits from enemy anti-aircraft fire, forcing Denton and his navigator, Lt. j.g. Bill Tschudy, to eject over the village of Thanh Hoa near Hanoi. They were then taken prisoner and sent to the notorious “Hanoi Hilton” prisoner of war camp.

Denton was imprisoned for the next eight years; four were spent in solitary confinement in a 3’ x 9’ cell because his captors did not want him influencing the other prisoners to resist. During that time, he experienced harassment, intimidation and ruthless, cruel treatment at the hands of his captors. In July 1966, he was one of 50 American prisoners paraded through the streets of Hanoi during the Hanoi March, where North Vietnamese civilians beat him and his fellow prisoners.

Ever defiant, Denton distinguished himself all the more in 1966 when a Japanese news team held a press conference on conditions at the prison. The North Vietnamese hoped to use the opportunity for propaganda purposes and ordered Denton to tell the correspondents that he and other prisoners were being humanely treated, lest he risk more abuse.

While speaking with the correspondents, Denton was asked about his support of the U.S. war effort in Vietnam. He responded, “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.”

When reviewing the recording, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence noticed Denton was blinking in an odd manner. A closer observation showed a pattern; Denton was blinking in Morse Code. They then translated the message – one word blinked over and over: – — •-• – ••- •-• • (TORTURE). The message was delivered right under his captors’ noses, the first confirmation to military intelligence that the North Vietnamese were torturing American POWs.

For his bravery, Denton was awarded the Navy Cross and promoted to captain. When his captors learned what he did, they relentlessly tortured him.

On Feb. 12, 1973, Denton and Tschudy, along with numerous other POWs, were released during Operation Homecoming. When he stepped off the plane at Clark Air Base in the Philippines, Denton told the crowd, “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.”

Denton retired from the Navy on Nov. 1, 1977, with the rank of rear admiral (upper half). Aside from the Navy Cross, he was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Silver Stars and 14 Bronze Stars, to name a few. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1981-87, the first Republican senator from Alabama since Reconstruction.

Denton died on March 28, 2014, at the age of 89 in Virginia Beach. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.