But when Smiley saw the look of complete fearlessness and serenity on Denton's face, he walked out of the room and screamed at the camp commander, 'I'm not going to do anything more to him; he won't break! Why should we kill him?'

They put sulfa on Denton's wounds and moved him to another part of the camp.

He was finally released and returned home in 1973. Driving through downtown Norfolk, Virginia, on the way to the Naval hospital, he saw marquees touting X-rated movies; he didn't know what they were. 'Massage' parlors abounded. Hustler, Penthouse, et. al., were openly displayed at the commissary.

'Abortion had not been legal when I was shot down,' he said. 'Drug use was rare, and the divorce rate and child abuse were a fraction of what they now were.

'I went into cultural shock, to the dismay of my wife. She expected me just to be happy to be home, and I was 18 inches off the ground, trying to save the world!'

Denton threw himself into efforts to reverse the cultural decline. He made speeches all over the country. In 1980 he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama, and worked for laws to strengthen family values. He founded two nonprofit organizations and worked with others promoting decency and morality.

The Navy veteran knew that, just as God is all-important to each individual, so He is absolutely essential to the well-being of a nation.

Our Founding Fathers knew this secret, said Denton, pointing to George Washington's Farewell Address, in which he said: 'Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morals are indispensable supports.'

Admiral Denton told the Christendom graduates that they knew the secret of the truth; they had earned it through their studies. But they still had some earning to do, in gratitude for knowing the truth.

'Our cross,' he exhorted them, 'is to take the pain it will cost to restore this country to one nation under God, as its Founding Fathers intended it to be.'

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