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stick up, atolls of about eight feet with palm trees mixed
in the haze and the waves, and they're very difficult to spot.
So they couldn't see it.
see it.
They weren't close enough even to
So finally one of the sailors said, "I suggest you
ask the Marshallese boys."
of Annapolis,
went up.
Whereupon he says, "I'ma graduate
I know how to navigate a ship," and his back
But finally in desperation he said,
"Well, do you
fellows know where Wotje is?" And again this is typical of
their behavoir, never a direct response,
-"We'll think about
it for a while”; and this is a lesson agme of the rest of us
might learn,
Rather than blurt out a quick reply, "Why, let's
+
think about it for a moment,"
Y
So they had a little huddle; they waliced around the
o¢
edge of the ship; they looked in the water; they looked off
‘at the sky and they had another consultation and they said
"Wotje that way [indicating]."
This was a real big help.
least he knew the direction to go!
[Laughter].
At
He thought
maybe this fellow is so dammed smart, maybe I could ask him
another question.
So he said, "How far 1s it to Wotje?"
Well,
another consultation, another walk around the ship and another
huddle and "Wotje ,40 more miles.”
22
"Well, we're lost.
We might as well try this."
So
23
he said, "Sail that way 40 miles,"
24
and dropped the anchor and everything was lovely and he began
25
to think about this,
26
he said, “How did you know where Wotje was?"
27
"Oh!"
They went into the harbor
So he gathered them together againand
This was a very serious problem,
So another
28
huddle, and another bit of discussion and then the great
29
announcerent:
30
"Wotje always right here!"
FREMONT-SMITH:
[Laughter]
I think I have to give another aspect
31
of this same story because as I was coming back from Bikini
32
Iwas on a plane with a Navy captain who told me a very
33
Similar story.
SiOEUCLA.
Y