ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Former Alabama Sen. Jeremiah Denton is now resting at Arlington National Cemetery.

The one-time Republican lawmaker and Vietnam veteran was buried with full military honors on Tuesday.

Denton died in March at age 89.

In 1980, Denton became the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama since Reconstruction. But Denton was known even better perhaps for the time he spent as prisoner of war in Vietnam.

After being shot down over enemy territory in 1965, the U.S. Navy pilot used Morse code to blink out the word “torture” during what was supposed to be a North Vietnamese propaganda film. Denton’s actions alerted U.S. officials to the conditions being endured by American prisoners during the war.

Members of Alabama’s congressional delegation attended Denton’s memorial at Arlington.

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