Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates appeared at the 2009 POW/MIA Recognition Day at the Pentagon. (Photo: Department of Defense)

A former prisoner of war and author has suggested that as bad as war is, there are worse scenarios that can develop for a nation.

"Are there not situations in which war is the lesser form of hell than that which would exist if the war were not fought? That question should be asked before any chief of state decides to commit a nation to war," Retired Navy Adm. Jeremiah Denton, a former POW and senator, said during the Pentagon's recognition day this year for prisoners of war and those who are missing because of war.

Denton, who authored "When Hell was in Session" about his experiences, thanked the contributions of the military of the United States to its security.

His book, now available largely only as a collectible, soon will be republished by WND books, a division of Joseph Farah's WND.com organization.

It was on July 18, 1965, when Denton, of the U.S. Navy, was shot down during a combat mission over North Vietnam.

He was held for seven and a half years, and later provided the first direct evidence of torture by the North Vietnamese.

Wartime veterans of The American Legion Department of California and the Thomas More Law Center just last year established a plaque honoring Denton on POW/MIA Day at Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial.

Denton was the first POW to serve four years in solitary confinement because of his refusal to collaborate with the enemy and denounce his nation, according to military sources.

When the North Vietnamese forced him into a propaganda video, Denton affected an eye twitch in which in blinked T-O-R-T-U-R-E in Morse code.

A video of the presentation is available online.

When he was returned to the United States in 1973, Denton was the senior officer among the prisoners and was their spokesman. He saluted the flag and said, "We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country under difficult circumstances."

No nation can survive without those who are willing to defend it from attack, he told the POW/MIA event audience. But he says even a greater honor is deserved by those who send soldiers to their nation's defense.

"Perhaps only if you have served as a POW or combat veteran can you fully comprehend that it is not the POW, the MIA, the wounded, or the KIA who suffers the most. Those who suffer the most are family and friends," he said.

"In the worst days of danger in combat, in the worst moments of torture during my imprisonment, I was always aware that my precious wife Jane, my mother, children, and other relatives and friends were suffering in ways worse than mine. I saw myself as a fighting man, not a defeated prisoner, and I had my own sense of honor, my own determination, and my God to support me in my fight. I was not sorry for myself because everyone in combat accepts the fact that he is risking life, limb, and freedom, and I had hope there was some possibility that I could survive until my day of freedom came," he said.

Those who have lost family members suffer, he noted. But those whose loved ones are captured are given the greater trial.

"Spouses suffer not only their own anxiety but are tortured by the consciousness of their children's wretched pain, and struggle to appear more cheerful, and hopeful than they are for the sake of the children. The children individually suffer in different ways and to different degrees, depending on a lot of factors, including how old they were when their parent was declared missing," he said.

He noted the 88,000 Americans still listed as missing in action from World War II, Korea, the Cold War and Vietnam:

"There is one suffering unique to the friends and relatives of those missing. Over the years, some of those missing for prolonged periods have been declared killed in action based on reasonable evidence. This change is significant to the survivors because it bears directly on the issue of being able to receive life insurance and other benefits payable only after declaration that the service person is KIA.

"Of course, this declaration can cause additional suffering because the survivors from then on can only speculate about what happened, and have to abandon any shred of hope that their loved one can return.

"Such suffering, and other kinds of suffering associated with war, more than justifies General Sherman saying, war is hell.

"But one qualification to that exclusive definition lies in the simple question: Are there not situations in which war is the lesser form of hell than that which would exist if the war were not fought?

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