This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Daniel L Arnes, CMDCM
to remember
Denton, Joseph Benjamin, ADCS USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Hemingway, SC
Last Address Starke, FL
Date of Passing Apr 28, 2003
Location of Interment Keystone Cemetery - Keystone Heights, Florida
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
The Gainsville Sun, April 30, 2003 Obituary
STARKE - Joseph Benjamin Denton died Monday at Naval Air Station Hospital in Jacksonville after an extended illness. He was 58.
Born in Hemingway, SC, he moved to Starke in 1987. He worked in construction and was retired from the U.S. Navy, where he served 26 years as a jet mechanic, including duty with HA(L)-3 during the Vietnam War.
DENTON, JOSEPH BENJAMIN
SCPO US NAVY
VIETNAM
DATE OF BIRTH: 01/28/1945
DATE OF DEATH: 04/28/2003
BURIED AT:
KEYSTONE CEMETERY
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, FL 32656
(352) 473-3176
Description This Campaign period was from 1 May to 30 June 1970. The allied push into Cambodia during the spring of 1970 brought the SEALORDS forces into a unique operational environment. At 0730 local time on 9 May, 10 days after ground troops crossed the border, a combined Vietnamese-American naval task force steamed up the Mekong River to wrest control of that key waterway from North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces.
The flotilla, led by a Vietnamese naval officer, was composed of American PCFs, ASPBs, PBRs, HAL-3 and VAL-4 aircraft, Benewah, Askari, Hunterdon County, YRBM 16, YRBM 21 and 10 strike assault boats (STAB) of Strike Assault Boat Squadron 20, a fast-reaction unit created by Admiral Zumwalt in 1969. The Vietnamese contingent included riverine assault craft of many types, PCFs, PBRs, and marine battalions.
Naval Advisory Group personnel sailed with each Vietnamese vessel. By the end of the first day, Vietnamese naval units reached the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, while to the south the combined force stormed enemy-held Neak Luong, a strategic ferry crossing point on the river. For political reasons, no U.S. personnel were allowed past Neak Luong, midway to Phnom Penh.
Although the American component pulled out of Cambodia by 29 June, the Vietnamese continued to guard the Mekong and evacuate to South Vietnam over 82,000 ethnic Vietnamese jeopardized by the conflict.