This is about aikido in a roundabout way. It is in Alan's 'Aikido Memoirs', and it recounts an incident that took place when he was sailing to Japan where he was going to study aikido with O-Sensei. You might find it amusing.
Sailing from Singapore to Bangkok we were sailing past Saigon at night. Normally the ship would have docked in Saigon, but because of the war in Vietnam we were sailing directly to Bangkok. WE were sailing towards many ships. It was actually the United States Fleet. Suddenly I noticed a morse code signal being flashed from one of the warships. Having been a Radio Officer I was easily able to read the signal. They were asking 'What ship? What ship? Moments later looking up to the bridge on our ship I saw the French crewman signalling 'Viet Nam, Viet Nam'. This request from the warship was repeated many times with out man replying on two or three occasions. Finally looking up I saw the French crewman throw his hands up and with a look of absolute distain ignored the continuing American requests. Fortunately, as we sailed past the fleet our name was visually verified by searchlight to actually be 'Viet Nam'.
Alan Ruddock
