In June 1943 Major Denton was ordered - by direction of the President - to leave for Greenland to take command of the Greenland bases. Unfortunately information of this change of command was unknown to the present commander, Col. Wimsatt. Unwilling to follow orders by Col. Wimsatt, Major Denton was arrested and returned to the States, where he faced a court martial, was convicted and sentenced to 12 years at hard labour.
At first Major Denton was detained on a psychopathic ward in an army hospital, later he was transferred to 1208th SCSU (Service Command Sub Unit) at Camp Upton to begin serving his time. The sentence had now been reduced from 12 to 5 years. In summer 1944 Major Denton was permitted to return to his home - but as Dishonourable discharged.