In 1966 Jeremiah Denton, a US Navy commander held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, was forced to give a televised propaganda interview. While he answered his captors' questions, he blinked his eyes in Morse code and spelled out T-O-R-T-U-R-E. It was the first confirmation to US Naval Intelligence that American prisoners were being tortured.
Shot down over North Vietnam
On 18 July 1965, Commander Denton was flying an A-6A Intruder from the aircraft carrier USS Independence, leading a 28-aircraft bombing mission over North Vietnam, when he was shot down. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war until 12 February 1973, more than seven and a half years.
Like the other prisoners, he lived through isolation, harsh treatment and repeated pressure to make statements against his own country. In the prisons, men communicated through walls with the tap code, since talking was forbidden. Denton even worked out a spoken version of it, made of coughs, sniffs and sneezes.
The interview
In 1966 his captors put Denton in front of a television camera for an interview that would be broadcast in the United States. The aim was propaganda: an American officer speaking well of his treatment.
Denton turned it around twice. Asked about his support for the American war effort, he answered: "I don't know what is happening, but whatever the position of my government is, I support it fully." And while he spoke, he pretended to be troubled by the bright television lights, blinking hard. The blinks were Morse code.
What he blinked
TORTURE in Morse code is seven letters:
| Letter | Code |
|---|---|
| T | - |
| O | --- |
| R | .-. |
| T | - |
| U | ..- |
| R | .-. |
| E | . |
With the eyes, a dash is a long blink and a dot a short one. Tap the whole word to hear it as sound: - --- .-. - ..- .-. ..
It is a hard word to blink: fifteen dots and dashes, which have to be spaced properly into letters while also talking, looking natural and not alerting the people watching. Denton blinked it repeatedly during the interview, and when the footage reached the United States, Naval Intelligence read the word.
Blinking Morse yourself
Blinking is one of the slowest ways to send Morse, but it needs no equipment at all, which is exactly why it is useful in a crisis. If you ever need to try it:
- Dot: a quick, deliberate blink.
- Dash: close your eyes and hold them shut for about three times as long.
- Between letters: keep your eyes open for a clear pause.
- Between words: a longer pause again.
Go slowly. The person watching has to tell a long blink from a short one, and a natural blink from a signal, so an exaggerated, steady rhythm reads far better than a fast one. To get a feel for the timing, set the translator to its slowest speed and copy the rhythm of a short word, such as SOS, with your eyes.
Why it mattered
Until then the United States had no confirmation that its prisoners were being tortured. Denton's message, sent under the eyes of his captors, gave them that confirmation, directly from a prisoner. It also showed that the propaganda interview was not what it seemed.
After the war
Denton was released in February 1973. He received the Navy Cross, retired as a rear admiral, and wrote about his captivity in the 1976 book When Hell Was in Session, which became a 1979 television film starring Hal Holbrook. He later served as a United States Senator for Alabama from 1981 to 1987. He died in 2014.
A message anyone can send
Denton's blinks are a reminder of what makes Morse code so durable: it needs nothing but something that can be on or off, long or short. A light, a sound, a tapping finger or an eyelid will do. You can see what any word looks like as long and short signals with the translator, or flash it on your screen with the phrases page.