Speaker 1: Hey, be you ready for today's episode? Uh? Okay, you're
Speaker 1: using Morse code to answer me? Right, but be we're
Speaker 1: talking about Louis Braille, the creator of Braille, and the
Speaker 1: World War Two heroes, the Navajo code talkers. Sure, both
Speaker 1: of them used codes and translated language from one form
Speaker 1: to another, but neither of those codes used tapping. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, that's too complicated to tap out. I was saying, yes,
Speaker 1: but if I bring up Morse code, it means I
Speaker 1: get to show off my tap dancing skills. Were you
Speaker 1: planning to do the whole episode like that? Yes? Or
Speaker 1: should I say okay? Now you've just collapsed into are
Speaker 1: rolling around on the floor. Yeah, I've switched genres and
Speaker 1: am now doing interpretive dance. There's a lot less cardio involved.
Speaker 1: Huh boy, Eric, please play the theme song before she
Speaker 1: gets her second wins. Know about the grates for this story.
Speaker 1: The game is on, Get some men and Jane buckle up.
Speaker 1: You bring cousin's side to play whose podcast because it's
Speaker 1: standard play books. Who List Live from Tom galand or
Speaker 1: so called so Cow Los Angeles? Welcome to Who Was?
Speaker 1: The history quiz show that gives contestants the chance to
Speaker 1: win Mecca prizes and podcast glory. I'm your announcer and
Speaker 1: co host from Coast to Coast be and here's your host,
Speaker 1: the man who majored in Study Hall. It's Elliott Klin.
Speaker 1: Thank you be and welcome everyone to the Who Was Podcast.
Speaker 1: The show is like Jeopardy, only with surprise guests, silly games,
Speaker 1: and an in house tanning bid. The tenth visit is free.
Speaker 1: Our contestants were sent who Was books about two great
Speaker 1: figures from history. Now they're here to show off their
Speaker 1: knowledge and the hopes of winning fantastic prizes prizes expos.
Speaker 1: Today we're learning about Louis Braille and the Navajo co talkers,
Speaker 1: people who change the world with their modes of communication.
Speaker 1: But before we meet them, let's meet our contestants. First up,
Speaker 1: we've got Page Page. Will you please introduce yourself. Hi,
Speaker 1: my name Page. A fun fact about me is I'm
Speaker 1: actually a really good goalkeeper. You're actually a really good goalkeeper.
Speaker 1: That is amazing. Now, I have been watching UM the
Speaker 1: angel City UH soccer team here in Los Angeles, and
Speaker 1: our goalkeeper is incredible. She's my favorite player on the team.
Speaker 1: What is your favorite thing to do as goalkeeper probably plainly. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's such a big fun thing to do. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: It's such a huge responsibility to keep the goal and
Speaker 1: take care of it and make sure that it's a
Speaker 1: con condition. You gotta take it home after every game.
Speaker 1: You gotta remember to bring it with you with the
Speaker 1: next game. Keeping a goal is a big job. I
Speaker 1: really admire that you're able to pull it off. Page.
Speaker 1: Do you have a personalized set of gloves that you
Speaker 1: wear as goalkeeper yet? I'm actually okay, alright, cool, Well,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us today. And with
Speaker 1: us today we also have Lilianna. Liliana, please introduce yourself
Speaker 1: him Lilianna. And one fun fact about me is once
Speaker 1: I read a for Unsure ninety two page book in
Speaker 1: one day. In one day. That's got to be a
Speaker 1: record at some kind. What was what was the book?
Speaker 1: What was the day? Like? Tell us everything? I've gotta know. Um, Well,
Speaker 1: ID come back from camp because I had a high
Speaker 1: fever and I was reading Keeper Lost Cities and I
Speaker 1: just had nothing to do do, so I just read it. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm impressed and inspired by how you took what could
Speaker 1: have been a catastrophe and used it to fuel you
Speaker 1: to probably break a world record. I don't know for sure,
Speaker 1: guessing yeah, amazing. Well, thank you both so much for
Speaker 1: being here today. Yes, and thank you to Eric, our musician,
Speaker 1: for providing that lovely Meet the Contestants music and all
Speaker 1: of the music on the show today. So that's who
Speaker 1: is Now Let's find out who was Louis Braille with
Speaker 1: four fast facts. Louis Braille was born in eighteen o
Speaker 1: nine and died in eighteen fifty two. Louis Braille lost
Speaker 1: his eyesight at the age of three after an accident
Speaker 1: in his father's workshop. At just fifteen years old, Louis
Speaker 1: Braile developed a system of reading and writing for people
Speaker 1: who are blind that would eventually be known as Braille.
Speaker 1: Braille is still in use today. Braile is a system
Speaker 1: of reading and writing that uses a series of six
Speaker 1: raised dots in place of written letters. People read the
Speaker 1: text with their fingers. So it's amazing to me that
Speaker 1: Louis Braille invented this whole system of writing when he
Speaker 1: was just a kid, basically, and it made me wonder,
Speaker 1: have either of you ever in invented anything? Lileana, have
Speaker 1: you invented anything you were sick for a while. Did
Speaker 1: you did you invent something while you were invent um?
Speaker 1: I don't think I did. All right, you have to
Speaker 1: go Yeah, we'll have to go back in double check.
Speaker 1: But but Lilian says she doesn't think she did. Cool,
Speaker 1: all right, what about you, page, Oh, I don't think
Speaker 1: I have. Well, there's still time, There's still lots of
Speaker 1: time to invent something. I have to admit. I've never
Speaker 1: invented anything either, except for excuses about why I didn't
Speaker 1: take the garbage job. And I'm also curious, has have
Speaker 1: either of our contestants Have you ever seen brail? Or
Speaker 1: do you know anybody who uses brail to read and write?
Speaker 1: I see it a lot. They haven't have fact presses,
Speaker 1: so I see it a lot. Yet that makes sense.
Speaker 1: You see it on a lot of signs outside of
Speaker 1: in buildings, outside of doors, in schools especially. Yeah, that's true. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So listeners, if you never noticed it before, take a
Speaker 1: look next time. You're maybe at your own school, and
Speaker 1: the sign, if there's a little bumps on the bottom
Speaker 1: of it, that's brail. That's how someone who can't see
Speaker 1: you can read the sign without a moment left to lose.
Speaker 1: Let's go to our first game, which is called Couplet one.
Speaker 1: It's a couplet. It's a couplet. In this game, we
Speaker 1: have a rhyming couplet or two line poem. That's what
Speaker 1: a couple of means with the final word missing. Fill
Speaker 1: in the blank with the correct rhyming word to get
Speaker 1: it right. For example, if we gave you the couplet.
Speaker 1: The announcer for this show is not me. It's the
Speaker 1: most talented person I know. And the answer, of course
Speaker 1: is B because B rhymes with me, and I'm also
Speaker 1: the most talented person Elliott knows, and Jane is the
Speaker 1: most talented person I know. Okay, well, that didn't turn
Speaker 1: out the way I thought it would. Because this is
Speaker 1: our first game, each question is worth one point each
Speaker 1: take it away. Be all right, Page, here is your couplet.
Speaker 1: You might think Louis was from Paris at a glance,
Speaker 1: but he was born in Coupe Gray, a small town
Speaker 1: in the country of Science. That's right, The answer is France.
Speaker 1: Louis was born in this small farming village into a
Speaker 1: family of leather workers. After an accident made him blind,
Speaker 1: he learned to read the alphabet when his father tapped
Speaker 1: nails in the shape of letters, and Louis memorized the
Speaker 1: feel of their shapes. A local priest was impressed with
Speaker 1: louise intellect convinced the wealthiest man in the village to
Speaker 1: help Louis get a scholarship to the school for the
Speaker 1: blind in Paris. Okay, and our next question is for Liliana.
Speaker 1: All right, Liliana, here is your couplets. They may have
Speaker 1: helped kids without vision, but louise new school was originally
Speaker 1: constructed as a That's right, the answer is prison. Louis
Speaker 1: attended the Paris Royal Institute for Blind Youth in eighteen nineteen.
Speaker 1: It was the first special school for the blind in
Speaker 1: the world, but living conditions inside the school were poor.
Speaker 1: Many of the students who lived and went to school
Speaker 1: their contracted infections and illness. They said the stairs were
Speaker 1: worm eating worms had eaten the stairs. Although authorities at
Speaker 1: the school made appeals to the government, the school was
Speaker 1: not given a new building for nearly thirty years. Okay,
Speaker 1: the next couplet is for page page. Here is your couplet.
Speaker 1: Many fellow students thought that Louie's new code was grand,
Speaker 1: but the director of their school said it wasn't allowed.
Speaker 1: It was that's right. The answer is banned. It's hard
Speaker 1: to believe now that when Louis first came up with
Speaker 1: his code, the head of the school forbade it in
Speaker 1: the classroom and locked away books that were written in Braille.
Speaker 1: The students used brail in secret and found ways to
Speaker 1: write it using forks, knitting needles, and nails. One boy wrote,
Speaker 1: we had to learn the alphabet and secrets, and when
Speaker 1: we were caught using it, we were punished. Okay, The
Speaker 1: next couplet is for Liliana. Liliana, don't worry if you
Speaker 1: get it right or wrong. There's no punishment here. We
Speaker 1: are not the Paris School for the blind in that's right.
Speaker 1: No worm eaten stairs here, as far as I know. Yeah, alright, Lilyana,
Speaker 1: here's your couplet. Though Louis Braille may now be gone,
Speaker 1: you can see his tombstone next to other French here
Speaker 1: rows at the law. No, I'm sorry, it's actually a
Speaker 1: placed without a law in there. The answer is the Pantheon.
Speaker 1: The Pantheon is a building where France's most honored people
Speaker 1: are buried. At the time of his death, the French
Speaker 1: government was still clinging to the old system of using
Speaker 1: embossed letters for people who are blind, but two years
Speaker 1: later Louise method replaced the embossed letter method as France's
Speaker 1: official system of writing for the blind, and his remains
Speaker 1: removed from Coupray to the Pantheon in nineteen fifty two,
Speaker 1: joining such luminaries as the philosopher Voltaire, the Three Musketeers,
Speaker 1: author Alexander Duma and fellow who was subject Mary Currie.
Speaker 1: And that's the end of the first games. It's a
Speaker 1: couple of and we've got a couple let of great
Speaker 1: contestants here today. What a good first round. Before we
Speaker 1: go to the break, we'll go over to someone who
Speaker 1: one day being the Who Was? Pantheon producer Jane with
Speaker 1: the first round scores, Thank you Elliot. Current Lee Louiana
Speaker 1: has one point and pages ahead with two. Thank you Jane.
Speaker 1: It's still a very close game. And we'll be back
Speaker 1: with our next round after this short break. Eric, please
Speaker 1: play us out with some worm eaten stairs music. Please,
Speaker 1: at least they're gotting their steps in. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Who Was? Podcast. Today we're learning who was Louis
Speaker 1: Braille and who worked the Navajo po talkers. Now back
Speaker 1: to your host, Elliott Kalin, thank you be. Before we
Speaker 1: get back to the game, let's get to know more
Speaker 1: about the Navajo code talkers with four fast facts. The
Speaker 1: Navajo code talkers were a special communications unit of the U. S.
Speaker 1: Marines in World War Two from nine two to the
Speaker 1: Navajo called themselves DNA. In eighteen sixty eight, after decades
Speaker 1: of fighting and hundreds of Navajo lives lost on government
Speaker 1: forced long walks from their homes to live on reservations,
Speaker 1: the Navajo signed a treaty to regain their homeland. The
Speaker 1: code talkers created a system that used the Navajo language
Speaker 1: to send coded radio message across enemy lines. The German
Speaker 1: and Japanese armies were never able to crack their code.
Speaker 1: So you were wondering all this talk about codes and
Speaker 1: special languages. Do you, either of you have like a
Speaker 1: special code or language that you used to talk to
Speaker 1: someone special to you, either a friend or a sibling.
Speaker 1: Do you have a twin that you speak a twin
Speaker 1: language in not really but sometimes that you end up
Speaker 1: speaking in French? You back, oh my, do you speak
Speaker 1: French fluently? Sometimes? Uh? Leleana? What about you? Do you
Speaker 1: have any special languages that you share with anybody. Um no,
Speaker 1: but some kids in my class last year they created
Speaker 1: a language. It was like saying weird thing. It was
Speaker 1: like a bunch of different letters mixed up and the
Speaker 1: teacher never know. Really, all right, what an awesome code.
Speaker 1: If the teacher never found out what they're saying, that
Speaker 1: means their code worked. Yeah, that's a that's a good code. Hey, B,
Speaker 1: I've got a question. Speaking of codes and special languages,
Speaker 1: do you know what your name would be according to
Speaker 1: the Navajo code talkers? Shush? Okay, rude, I can't shush.
Speaker 1: It's my job to talk. No, not shush, shush. That
Speaker 1: would be my name based on the system the code
Speaker 1: talkers came up with because they use common Navajo words
Speaker 1: to stand in for English letters. So if you wanted
Speaker 1: to quickly say my name like the letter B, you'd
Speaker 1: say shush, which is actually the Navajo word for bear,
Speaker 1: be bear gurb sting. Wait, I'm receiving this urgent coded message.
Speaker 1: We got to get to our next game. It's called
Speaker 1: Backpack from the Past from the Best Baby, What a
Speaker 1: groovy game. I have a backpack contained some personal objects
Speaker 1: from the Navajo code talkers B and I are going
Speaker 1: to describe those objects for our contestants and the listeners
Speaker 1: at home. And contestants, you pick the best of the
Speaker 1: multiple choice answers that reveals the significance of the object.
Speaker 1: And since this is our second game, each question is
Speaker 1: worth two points. Go for it. Be alright, Lilyana, this
Speaker 1: first object is for you. Oh wow, I found a
Speaker 1: permission slip. It reads Dean Wilson does not have permission
Speaker 1: to join the Marines, and it's signed by his parents.
Speaker 1: Why is this in the backpack? Is it because a
Speaker 1: code talker Dean Wilson took a slip of paper denying
Speaker 1: permission to join the Marines out of his file? Or B,
Speaker 1: I grabbed the wrong bag and this is actually Dean
Speaker 1: Wilson's trash bag. Hey, that's right. The answer is a
Speaker 1: Dean Wilson was too young to join the Marines on
Speaker 1: his own. He saw a slip of paper in his
Speaker 1: file at the recruiter's office that didn't grant him permission,
Speaker 1: and he took it out so that he could join.
Speaker 1: More than two hundred Navajo men showed up when the U. S.
Speaker 1: Marines called for volunteers who spoke Navajo and English. They
Speaker 1: were ready to help the war effort, even after more
Speaker 1: than a hundred and fifty years of mistreatment of Native
Speaker 1: Americans by the US government. And the next object is
Speaker 1: for you, page page. It looks like a water canister
Speaker 1: and it's full of water, So I guess it was
Speaker 1: a water canister. What does this have to do with
Speaker 1: the Navajo code talkers? Is it a the water canister
Speaker 1: from their desert training or b because part of their
Speaker 1: method was to send notes in invisible ink that could
Speaker 1: only be seen after you splashed water on it. That's right.
Speaker 1: The answer is a. Once the recruits got to marine camp,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of training. Many things were new
Speaker 1: to the soldiers, but other things my card work, marksmanship,
Speaker 1: and desert survival were not. The recruits were instructed to
Speaker 1: survive in the desert with just one water canister. The
Speaker 1: Navajo recruits new to get water from a cactus and
Speaker 1: came back with a full water canister when they graduated
Speaker 1: the Navajo plat tune, we're called one of the most
Speaker 1: outstanding that had graduated from basic training. Okay, Lilyana, this
Speaker 1: next object is for you. Oh wow, it's a grid
Speaker 1: in one column. It has letters and the next column
Speaker 1: has Navajo words, and the last column has words in
Speaker 1: English such as owl, weasel, and ice. Is this a
Speaker 1: a new kind of Sudoku puzzle called rudoku? Or the
Speaker 1: cipher for the Navajo letter code B? That's correct. The
Speaker 1: answer is be. A cipher is a guide for understanding codes.
Speaker 1: The twenty nine Navajo Marines were tasked with creating a
Speaker 1: cipher for a code that troops could use during battles.
Speaker 1: The code talkers created this code that used Navajo words
Speaker 1: to represent English letters, which spelled out words. As the
Speaker 1: code developed, other shorthand phrases were added. For example, the
Speaker 1: code talkers used the Navajo word for tortoise to stand
Speaker 1: in for the English word tank. Okay, page, This next
Speaker 1: one is for you, okay. Wow. It's a pouch and
Speaker 1: inside it there's a rock, some pollen, and an arrowhead.
Speaker 1: Look at this represent a party favor bag from a
Speaker 1: real cool party. Geraldine went to or be medicine bags
Speaker 1: the Navajo soldiers carried with them. The answer is b.
Speaker 1: Many Navajo soldiers had medicine bags that contain not something
Speaker 1: like thailand all or vitamins, but sacred objects given to
Speaker 1: them by their families. They wore them around their neck
Speaker 1: to protect them and keep them connected to their home life.
Speaker 1: The Navajo community also helps the code talkers after the
Speaker 1: war with special spiritual Navajo ceremonies called the Enemy Way,
Speaker 1: where people gathered to sing, chant and pray to help
Speaker 1: drive away the spirits of the battlefield. And that's the
Speaker 1: end of that game. From the Best, Baby, Great round, everybody.
Speaker 1: You to both really cracked the code of those questions. Now,
Speaker 1: let's transmit a message over to producer Jane. Producer Jane,
Speaker 1: here's the message. It reads, what are the scores? I
Speaker 1: got your message on it, and I'm going to tell
Speaker 1: you the scores are Movie on the House five and
Speaker 1: Paige ahead by one with six. Well, truly a mail
Speaker 1: biter of a game. It is, oh, a mail biter. Oh, Elliott,
Speaker 1: there you go, always talking in code. Well that's not
Speaker 1: a code, it's a metaphor. You know what a metaphor is, right,
Speaker 1: b Yeah, it's like a portmanteau of assimile and an adverb.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, we'll have to unpack that later because right
Speaker 1: now we have a very special guest here. Everyone, please
Speaker 1: welcome Navajo code talker William Dean Wilson. Hello, thanks to
Speaker 1: the who is that? Forgetting me here? Who was that? You?
Speaker 1: Wander in the best? That app is a lot lighter
Speaker 1: than the radio as I carried in service, that's for sure,
Speaker 1: Be Elliott. I know we've got a lot to cover,
Speaker 1: but it must ask how did you get aloha? That
Speaker 1: translates in English to elephant in the studio? Hey, Geraldine,
Speaker 1: why don't you tell him yourself? Yeah? Okay? And then
Speaker 1: what happened? That's so right? You were wearing that, Elliott?
Speaker 1: What are they saying? I have no idea. I find
Speaker 1: the best thing to do when Be and Geraldine start
Speaker 1: talking is just figure out the vibe and not alat Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then I was like, you're hired. We have fun
Speaker 1: on this show. So, Mr Wilson, you joined the Marines
Speaker 1: when you were just sixteen years old? Yes, even though
Speaker 1: I told him I was eighteen. Oh, I get it.
Speaker 1: Were you speaking in a code and eighteen really meant sixteen? Yes?
Speaker 1: I've by code? You mean fibbing. I know it's not
Speaker 1: right till lie. When I was young and eager for adventure,
Speaker 1: it was kind of like a boy with a new toy.
Speaker 1: Everything was new. Mr Wilson, could you tell us any
Speaker 1: of the messages you sent back when you were serving
Speaker 1: with the Marines? That's confidential information. But I can tell
Speaker 1: you that we ended each dialogue with the phrase that
Speaker 1: translates to give back the ram. It was our way
Speaker 1: of acknowledging that the conversation was over. Well, I actually
Speaker 1: have some code of my own that I wonder if
Speaker 1: you'd be able to decipher. I've been working on it
Speaker 1: for a while, so it's pretty tough to crack. The
Speaker 1: twenty eight other code talkers and I painstakingly created code
Speaker 1: under intense pressure over a period of many months. I
Speaker 1: know how difficult creating code can be. I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear what you came up with. Okay, here goes code
Speaker 1: number one. Be how many codes did you create? That's
Speaker 1: confidential information? Or should I say at days on fidential
Speaker 1: k information? A. You're speaking pig Latin there, but in
Speaker 1: the beginning of the word at the end, correct code
Speaker 1: craft Okay, code number two. I'm so thrilled you figured
Speaker 1: it out so quickly. Thrilled, but you're actually mad. Is
Speaker 1: it opposite day or something? Okay too? For two? Opposite
Speaker 1: day actually a code? Hell yeah, just pick your own
Speaker 1: the Liman, not Alonge. And now for code three, Simon says,
Speaker 1: put your hand on your nose. Simon says, jump up
Speaker 1: and down. Simon says, sing carmina burana, oh for tuna.
Speaker 1: Wait wait, wait, this code is. Simon says, I was wrong. No,
Speaker 1: you're totally right. It is. Simon says, but Simon didn't
Speaker 1: say you could say. Simon says, then to decipher some
Speaker 1: pretty strange messages in my day, But be the message
Speaker 1: is coming from You've got to be the strangest. You're welcome,
Speaker 1: I think she need. Thank you for stopping by and
Speaker 1: seeing us today, Mr William Dean Wilson, my pleasure, Thanks
Speaker 1: to you all, and thanks again. Who was app give
Speaker 1: back the ram? Who? It's time we take a break,
Speaker 1: unless you've got another code to show us. Be No,
Speaker 1: I really don't. Okay, that's just sarcasm, otherwise known as
Speaker 1: code forty seven, now code forty eight because where you
Speaker 1: burped everything? Oh boy, Eric, play us some give back
Speaker 1: the ram music? Please? It was a loner, Sally, Who
Speaker 1: was there? Marie? You may remember me from winning multiple
Speaker 1: Nobel prizes, or perhaps from my episode of the Who
Speaker 1: Was Podcast where I played myself I wanted to take
Speaker 1: a moment to read one of my favorite reviews about
Speaker 1: the Who Was Podcast. This is from Shaken Bay and
Speaker 1: it reads loved the Me and my little sister love
Speaker 1: this show more. Please. Our faith is Arietman. If you
Speaker 1: want to hear your review read on the app, make
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe, like and review to the US podcast
Speaker 1: in the I Heard Radio up or wherever you give
Speaker 1: your podcasts revoir or should Let's Day abio. Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Who Was Podcast. Today we're learning all about
Speaker 1: awesome forms of communication with who was Louis Braille and
Speaker 1: who were the Never Who Coo Talkers? And now back
Speaker 1: to your host, Elliott Halin. Thanks Be. We've got one
Speaker 1: last game to get to and it's this one converge
Speaker 1: of greatness. In this multiple choice game, Be will read
Speaker 1: questions where our two historical figures overlap or converge. And
Speaker 1: because this is our third game, each question is worth
Speaker 1: three huge points. Picked the best option as your answer page.
Speaker 1: The first question is for you, B. You know what
Speaker 1: to do. Both Louis and the Code Talkers left home
Speaker 1: for a very specific education. As we mentioned, conditions at
Speaker 1: Louis school were very bad. Louis and many other students
Speaker 1: even contracted this condition from living there a cold feet,
Speaker 1: which is why Louie never married. B Bad taste in
Speaker 1: interior decorating or C tuberculosis. See you got it. The
Speaker 1: answer is C. For a minute, I thought you said B,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I think his taste interior decorating
Speaker 1: was that bad? But the answer is C. Tuberculosis or
Speaker 1: t B is a sickness that affects your breathing and
Speaker 1: to be spread very quickly when people live in close quarters.
Speaker 1: TV was the leading cause of death in industrialized countries
Speaker 1: during the nineteenth and early twenty centuries. It affected Louis
Speaker 1: and many of his fellow students. In fact, Louis died
Speaker 1: at the young age of forty three from complications from TB.
Speaker 1: Okay next question. This next question is for Liliana. Liliana,
Speaker 1: both Braile and Navajo were at one point used in secret.
Speaker 1: Brail was banned by the head of Louis school. But
Speaker 1: why would Navajo speakers keep their language secret? Was it
Speaker 1: a the Navajo co talkers wanted to practice keeping secrets.
Speaker 1: B schools that many American Indians were sent to would
Speaker 1: only speak and teach in English or see. Contrary to
Speaker 1: the popular rhyme, secret secrets are tons of fun and
Speaker 1: secret secrets hurt no one B. That's right. The answer
Speaker 1: is B. For most of American history, the US government
Speaker 1: was hostile to Native American tribes. In order to break
Speaker 1: down Native cultures, they made many Indigenous children leave their
Speaker 1: homes and go to schools where they had to speak English.
Speaker 1: Their mouths were washed out with soap when they spoke
Speaker 1: their own language. In an incredible twist of history, the
Speaker 1: Navajo language America tried to erase ended up helping us
Speaker 1: when we need it at most. In two thousand two,
Speaker 1: code talker Chester Nez under to the irony of his
Speaker 1: military service. He said, all those years being told not
Speaker 1: to speak Navajo, then to turn around and ask us
Speaker 1: for help with that same language, it still kind of
Speaker 1: bothers me. And for the record, kids just want you know,
Speaker 1: secrets are not fun and can on occasion hurt someone.
Speaker 1: Unless that secret is what's going to happen on the
Speaker 1: next episode of Game of Thrones. That's called no spoilers,
Speaker 1: and I totally stand by keeping that a secret. And
Speaker 1: on to the next question. For page we've talked about
Speaker 1: how quickly. The Navajo code talkers could translate messages, but students,
Speaker 1: wanting to prove how effective brail was, also translated messages quickly,
Speaker 1: so quickly, in fact, that a people did not believe
Speaker 1: them and made them do it again. Be they set
Speaker 1: againness world record for the fastest translation. Or see it
Speaker 1: was so fast the paper they were reading from burst
Speaker 1: into flames. Hey, that's right. The answer is a. Students
Speaker 1: gave a demonstration of how quickly they could write and brail.
Speaker 1: One student left the room and an audience member at
Speaker 1: a poem allowed, which was immediately translated into braille. The
Speaker 1: student who had left the room came back and used
Speaker 1: their fingers on the grill and spoke the perfectly translated poem.
Speaker 1: One man in the audience didn't believe them. He made
Speaker 1: the students translate a theater ticket from his pocket, which
Speaker 1: they also transcribed and rail aloud perfectly. We'd like to
Speaker 1: think it was a ticket for the egg on my
Speaker 1: Face show, because that guy Shorehead egg on his face,
Speaker 1: or as he would have said in France, thank you.
Speaker 1: I guess I don't I should have asked. Paige Page
Speaker 1: would have known, but only when she's angry. That's egg
Speaker 1: without a face. So I hope my egg doesn't have
Speaker 1: a face. I don't want to eat an egg with
Speaker 1: a face on it. Okay, The next and final question,
Speaker 1: as I try to get the image of an egg
Speaker 1: with a face out of my mind, this nest question
Speaker 1: is for Liliana. Okay, all right, Liliana. Both Louis Braille
Speaker 1: and the Nemajo co talkers had to wait a long
Speaker 1: time for recognition of their good work. For Braille, it
Speaker 1: took nearly a hundred years, and the truth behind the
Speaker 1: co talkers was not mentioned until twenty three years after
Speaker 1: their service. They weren't given Congressional medals of honor until
Speaker 1: two thousand one, which US president awarded them those medals.
Speaker 1: Was it a Barack Obama B. George W. Bush or C.
Speaker 1: Millard Fillmore B. That's right. The answer is be. Fearing
Speaker 1: they would need to use the code again, the U.
Speaker 1: S Military kept the code talkers talk secret until nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty eight. The code talkers they weren't even allowed to
Speaker 1: talk about what they did in the military for over
Speaker 1: twenty years. Then in two thousand one or twenty nine,
Speaker 1: original code talkers were given Congressional Medals of honor from
Speaker 1: President George W. Bush. He declared, there's quote a story
Speaker 1: all Americans can celebrate and remember. In two August fourteen
Speaker 1: was named National Code Talkers Day. I can't wait to celebrate.
Speaker 1: I've already got on my code Talker decorations and my
Speaker 1: code Talkers snacks. It's going to be fantastic. And that's
Speaker 1: the end of the round. That sound means we're at
Speaker 1: the end of the game and the end of the
Speaker 1: show while we wait for Jane to tell you the
Speaker 1: points I'd love to hear from both of our contestants. Leana,
Speaker 1: what surprised you about either Louis Braille or the Navajo
Speaker 1: code Talkers? I think I was surprised that Louis Brown
Speaker 1: wasn't lying that person. He lost his sight when he
Speaker 1: was three years old, and it was an accident that
Speaker 1: happened to one of his eyes, and then an infection
Speaker 1: spread and he lost vision in both It really makes
Speaker 1: you wonder what a three year old was doing wandering
Speaker 1: around in a leather working workshop. One has to hold there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and how about you, Page, was there anything that surprised
Speaker 1: you about either of our subjects? Well, actually, I think
Speaker 1: never the Navajo voice proctors. They surprised me a lot.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know they existed. Isn't it amazing when
Speaker 1: you learn a story from history and you're like, what
Speaker 1: that happened? How did you feel when you found out
Speaker 1: that the Navajo code talkers, that they had lived these lives,
Speaker 1: that they were able to turn their language into an
Speaker 1: unbreakable code. How did you feel about that? That was
Speaker 1: pretty cool? Actually, I think that sums it up. It's
Speaker 1: pretty cool. It's a good way to describe it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so you went so when you read it, you
Speaker 1: didn't get mad and start yelling in French. No, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's good. That's good. Okay, thank you both. That was fantastic.
Speaker 1: Now for the big moment, Jane, please announce our winner,
Speaker 1: hell Yett, I'm going to give out the winner in code.
Speaker 1: Are you ready? Yes? Yes? Please? Page at twelve points,
Speaker 1: Lily Hannah at eleven Can you figure it out? But
Speaker 1: that that was the code, that's the code? Okay. I
Speaker 1: think I think that means Pages are winner today. Correct,
Speaker 1: you got it? Oh, you cracked the phone. I was
Speaker 1: almost there. Congratulation Page and Leon. You played a great game,
Speaker 1: a super close ending. I'd call it a photo finish. Okay, page,
Speaker 1: you have ten seconds for shoutouts. Who do you want
Speaker 1: to thank for getting you to the winner's circle? Uh,
Speaker 1: it's Marcia and MS Dollar and my mom and dad especially.
Speaker 1: That's really great. That's really nice, and I'm sure your
Speaker 1: mom and dad will appreciate it. Our winner and their
Speaker 1: library of choice are going to be receiving a selection
Speaker 1: of Who Was books, And I'm going to give my
Speaker 1: own shout out to intern Zach, to Jane, to Eric
Speaker 1: and to be and a big thank you to both
Speaker 1: of our contestants for playing a really fantastic game. You
Speaker 1: both did great. And of course who should I think
Speaker 1: the most? It could only be one person, you, the
Speaker 1: listener listening to this right now. Thank you for enjoying
Speaker 1: our show. Now join us next time when we learn
Speaker 1: about two more amazing figures from history. Until then, this
Speaker 1: is Elliott tord Is tank Klin saying We're history. Good Bye.
Speaker 1: Everybody got a question for any of our famous figures?
Speaker 1: Or do you want to be a contestant? Send us
Speaker 1: a voice memo at the Who Was Podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com it or you might just end up on
Speaker 1: the show. Who Was Podcast is produced by Radio Point
Speaker 1: I Heart Media and Penguin Workshop, and is based on
Speaker 1: the best selling who h Q series published by Penguin.
Speaker 1: This show is hosted by Elliott Caylin with co host
Speaker 1: Megan O'Neill as b It also stars Jane Baker as
Speaker 1: Jane and Eric Shackney as Eric. Executive producers are Richard Corson,
Speaker 1: Alex Bach, Elliott Kylin, Megan O'Neil, Daniel Powell, and Houston Snyder.
Speaker 1: Our executive producer for Penguin Workshop is Francesco Sadita, but
Speaker 1: our executive producer for iHeart Media is Lindsay Hoffman. This
Speaker 1: episode was written by Megan O'Neil, Elliott Kylin and Devin Coleman.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Bernie Kaminsky and Taylor Kawalski. Our talent
Speaker 1: producer is Jane Baker. Our theme song and our music
Speaker 1: are all composed and performed by Eric Shackney. We are
Speaker 1: edited and mixed by Bree Matan and Kate Moldenhower. They're
Speaker 1: recorded by Alison Worth. And there's special thanks I'd like
Speaker 1: to give to Zach Timpson, Charlotte Dianda, Daniel Goodman, Michael
Speaker 1: Lewis Howard and of course you the listener wa. The
Speaker 1: Who Was Podcast was recorded the I Heart Studios in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, California. Sound services were provided by Great City
Speaker 1: Posts Podcast. Chur on The Fable was as his host