Gordon Warner, in Memory

...the most famous one legged swordsman of all Dr. Gordan Warner. At 6' 3 (or more) he is still an imposing man even at 85 years old. When I last spoke with Warner Sensei I called him at his home in Okinawa (where he teaches kendo/iaido) and I asked him about the rumors circulating thru cyber space that he had died. He said "What a bunch of nonsense, that's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard", and then quickly added, "so what can I do for you". He is a real treasure.

Warner sensei practiced with Mochida sensei 10 dan, at the Mitsubishi Dojo before AND after WWII. In fact he lost his leg fighting at the Battle of Bougainville. If you look in his book "This is Kendo" you can see his artificial foot in some of the pictures of him doing keiko.

At a kendo taikai at Michigan State University a couple years ago I got to hear him give the opening kendo taikai address. He is very powerful and very driven. If you were to ask him about practicing with one leg I am sure he would say something like ' no real secret, just go to the dojo and train hard. And when it seems impossible train harder '. He told me that if I wanted to do what he had (in kendo) all I had to do was go to the dojo everyday, and survive whatever happens.