Prisoner blinked chilling message in TV interview to save his own life
Prisoner of war Jeremiah Denton became famous after a 1966 interview, supposed to be a propaganda film
A man held captive in the Vietnam war sent out a message to the world using just his eyes.
Prisoner of war (POW) Jeremiah Denton became an American hero in 1966 after he was able to turn a propaganda film on its head.
Watch below to see what he's doing:
Advert
Denton served as a US Naval Aviator during the Vietnam War, which lasted from 1955 to 1975.
For nearly eight years, Denton was held in a North Vietnam POW camp called the Zoo and was forced to take part in a propaganda news segment.
The broadcast was designed by the Vietnamese military to show that prison guards weren't breaking human rights laws.
Although Denton was filmed telling reporters that he has 'adequate food, clothing and medical care', his eyes told a different story.
If you've watched the video above and still don't have a clue what's going on, Denton was in fact using morse code with his eyes to convey the truth.
Denton used the communication method to spell out the word 'torture'.
As well as using telecommunications technique, the POW also made it clear that he still belonged to the US government.
"I don't know what is happening but whatever the position of my government is, I support it," he said.
"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."
He made the statement despite knowing he would be tortured after the camera stopped rolling.
"In the early morning hours, I prayed that I could keep my sanity until they released me. I couldn't even give in to their demands, because there were none. It was pure revenge," Denton wrote at the time.
"They beat you with fists and fan belts," he also told the Los Angeles Times in 1979.
"They warmed you up and threatened you with death. Then they really got serious and gave you something called the rope trick."
Ropes were used to cut off circulation in your limbs, causing intense muscle spasms, he said.
Denton later turned to politics and became the first Republican elected to the Senate from Alabama since the Reconstruction era.
However, he lost his re-election bid in 1986 by a small margin.
"He was a war hero, an honorable senator, and a family man who cared deeply about his country," said a statement from U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, who as a Democrat defeated Denton in 1986.
Anish Vij