Do you like to play board games?  Maybe you know of some popular games like Scrabble, Monopoly, Battleship, or Trouble.  Maybe you even have your own favorite board game that you play with your family.  One of my favorite board games is called “Clue.”  This game was created a long time ago, in 1944 by an Englishman, for people to play while they were huddled in underground shelters during bombing raids.  It was originally called “Cluedo” which means “I play” in Latin! It is a mystery game full of twists and turns, where players find clues and try to figure out who committed a daring deed with a household item, such as a fireplace poker, knife, or a walking stick, inside a spooky gothic house.  It is a game of cunning and conniving – of trying to figure out who is the villain and how to use clues to solve the mystery.  The characters have funny names like Professor Plum, Colonel Mustard, and Mrs. Peacock and you need to follow and remember their hijinks and clues during the game.  You need to be a super sleuth – or spy!    

Real Spies

During the time Clue was created, there were a lot of real spies.  But instead of playing a make-believe game, they were engaged in actual spycraft!  During WW II, US spies worked tirelessly and covertly – meaning secretly – to obtain enemy information, such as where the enemy was headed, where they would attack, how many planes, ships, or men they had, and other useful information.  And not all of these spies were men!  Women were also used as spies across Europe and Asia because they were so unexpected.  At that time, people did not think that women could be involved in the war, either fighting or spying.  So, women had the perfect spy cover!  They could act like a society lady, attending parties, and listening to war talk between men.  Or they could ride their bikes around town, stopping in shops and cafes to listen for war secrets.  And some even created news by writing fake radio announcements, newspaper articles, or postcards to confuse the enemy.  

Betty McIntosh – Spy

One such spy was Elizabeth “Betty” McIntosh who was born on March 1, 1915, in Washington, DC.  She was very brave and smart.  She knew how to speak Japanese and was working as a news reporter during the start of WWII.  Betty was stationed in Hawaii when Japanese planes bombed US ships docked at Pearl Harbor.  

The bombing of Pearl Harbor brought the US into the war and Betty moved to Washington, DC.  She kept busy writing articles about Eleanor Roosevelt, the President’s wife, and her war efforts.  She then interviewed a man working at the OSS – the Office of Strategic Services.  This was the US spy agency during WWII.  During the interview, she was asked if she would “like to do something more interesting.”  She was not told it would be spying – which was very sneaky of them!  She said, “I would like to do it if it involves going overseas.”  And they granted her wish!  

Betty reported for her first day of work and was fingerprinted – meaning they covered her fingers in ink and pushed her fingers onto a piece of paper, leaving fingerprints on the paper.  She was then told that she had to keep everything top secret and swear an oath – which she thought was strange because she didn’t even know what she would be doing yet.

Betty was then sent to a group called MO – Morale Operations.  Their entire job was to spread rumors.  Can you imagine that?  I’m sure all of us have been told by our parents and teachers not to tell lies or spread rumors.  But that was her new job!  She was taught how to start rumors and make them believable by mixing in bits of truth with lies.   She worked with other “spy craft” people, like radio announcers, artists, newspaper editors, cartoonists, and writers – people who had skills in writing and creating convincing stories and pictures.  Some of these spycraft people were captured Japanese soldiers who were artists and agreed to work with the allies.

Betty McIntosh Heads to India

Once Betty finished training in 1943, she was sent to India to spread false radio and news reports to Japanese soldiers who were getting very tired of fighting.  The Japanese government had told their soldiers that if they stopped fighting – or if they surrendered – they could never go home and they would lose their houses and savings.  This made the Japanese continue to fight very hard.  The US needed to find a way to let the Japanese soldiers stop fighting while keeping their honor.  So, Betty and the OSS created false Japanese military orders to surrender in one particular battle!  They had another spy capture a Japanese courier – a mailman – and put the false order in his mailbag.  This order was later read and believed by the Japanese officers!

Betty McIntosh in China

Betty then flew to China, where she started writing fake radio scripts and stories for the OSS.  One OSS radio worker acted as a fortune teller.  This fortune teller pretended to look at the stars and make predictions over the radio.  The Japanese loved to listen to these radio stories!  Betty was told she had to write a very scary, but believable story to scare the Japanese.  “What about an earthquake?” she said.  No, that happens all the time in Japan,” said her boss.  “Well, what about a Tsunami,” she replied.  “Nope, they have those, too,” he said.  “Well, I’ll think of something scary” replied Betty.  

She thought and thought, but couldn’t think of something truly scary.  So, she finally wrote the following announcement, “Something terrible is going to happen to Japan. We have checked the stars and there is something we can’t even mention because it is so dreadful and it is going to eradicate one whole area of Japan.” That same day, the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.  Betty didn’t even know this was going to happen and she was shocked – as well as everyone else who listened to her radio announcement!  She was asked, “How did you know about the bomb because it was top secret?”  She said, “I just made the story up!”

Betty McIntosh Returns to the US

After the war ended, Betty returned to the US and started writing for Glamour magazine.  But it was very boring writing about clothes and makeup after being a spy!  So, Betty returned to government work, assisting the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the State Department, and the United Nations.  She also wrote several spy books, including “Undercover Girl” and “Sisterhood of Spies” as well as several children’s books.

Still, Betty missed the thrill and excitement of working as a spy, so she asked for a job with the new US spy agency, the CIA, or Central Intelligence Agency.  She worked there for many years until retiring.  She signed an oath to never talk about her work at the CIA, so we will never know about her other spy exploits, but I’m sure they were exciting!  

Betty passed away at the age of 100 in 2015 after 40 years of working as a spy.  Before she died, she stated that her work as a spy was the most exciting time in her life.  

In 1982, the US started an annual celebration called Women’s History Month, which starts on March 1^st in honor of Betty’s birthday.  

Life as a Spy

What do you think of Betty’s life as a spy?  Would you like to be a spy?  What would be your spy name?  What kind of spy would you be?  Would you write stories, sneak behind enemy lines gathering information, or smuggle people to safety?  Or maybe you would do something else, like crack codes or decipher messages.

I think Betty’s story reminds us that women can do courageous, patriotic, and amazing things.  Betty traveled overseas and did important work for her nation during a time of great crisis to save US lives and shorten the war.  Maybe you can continue to honor Betty and other brave women by participating in Women’s History Month and learning more about courageous women who changed the course of history. 

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Today we’re going to learn about a few of the people who were born in the Navajo Nation and their adventures that started back in 1942, around 80 years ago.

At this time in Europe, World War II has been raging for two years, but in the United States, people are still going about their daily activities – attending school, working in stores, tending family farms, and raising children.  But suddenly, on December 7, 1941, the US state of Hawaii is attacked by enemy planes.  Big battleships are sunk.  Many lives are lost.  The US must respond and save their nation – but how?

A Military Plan

Military leaders get together to discuss a battle plan.  They gather soldiers, ships, tanks, and planes.  Next, they need to find a battle language – a secret code – to relay messages back and forth.  Their enemies are good at cracking codes – they did it in World War I and they are currently doing it in Europe during World War II.  So, what kind of code can they use?  They need a language that is unknown, and very difficult to speak and understand.  During the first World War, the US used Native American languages like Choctaw for their codes. Nineteen Choctaw warriors were sent into battle to relay secret messages.  The enemy couldn’t understand this Choctaw language; they thought the US had created some type of machine to record voices underwater!  However, after WWI, the enemy learned about this code and sent students to the US to learn Choctaw, plus other Native American languages such as Hopi, Comanche, and Cherokee.  The US military leaders need to find a new language – something unknown to most people.  An article about this search is printed in the papers.

The Navajo Code

Philip Johnston reads about this search in the paper and has an idea.  As a child, he was raised on a Navajo reservation with missionary parents, meaning religious people, who helped the Navajo.  He knows how to speak Navajo – a language that is not written has no alphabet and is very difficult to understand.  The same Navajo word can mean different things based on the tone of voice used or if the word is spoken in a high voice, a low voice, or even a rising or falling voice.  This would make a perfect code! 

Philip contacts the US military and, after a lot of convincing, they agree to use Navajo as their code!  They find 29 young Navajo men who are bilingual – meaning they speak Navajo and English – from the Navajo Nation spread across the US states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.  The men are sent to Camp Elliott in San Diego, California, for boot camp and training.  There is so much to learn:  they need to learn how to jump over high walls, crawl quietly through jungles with huge backpacks, shoot rifles, and hone survival skills like reading maps, building fires, and bandaging wounds.  But these Navajo soldiers have to learn even more.  They have to create and memorize a secret code – plus use a special radio to transmit these codes!

Writing the Code

These young men are smart.  They know that the enemy might understand certain Navajo words, so they turn their language into a secret code!  Sometimes they will use their original Navajo words and sometimes they will change words.  For instance, in English, the word “cat” starts with the letter “C”.  The Navajo word for “cat” is “mosi” (mo-see).  So, now they will use the word “mo-see” to mean the letter C!  They do this trick with all the letters of the English alphabet.  And then they do something even more amazing!  They think of military words like “Captain” or “Patrol Plane” or “Mine Sweeper” and think of animals or objects that look or act like those military objects.  For example, a captain wears a pin with two metal stripes on his uniform.  This striped pin reminds the Navajo of railroad tracks.  So, the code for captain is now “two tracks.”  A patrol plane soars through the sky looking for things below, like troops, or tanks, or ships.  This reminds the Navajo of a bird that likes to fly and look for things on the ground.  Thus, they call a patrol plane a “crow!” And a mine sweeper ship cruises through the water looking for things in its way.  The Navajo code talkers say that’s a “beaver.”  And that is how they build their code – by turning military words into Navajo words with a secret meaning.  Now even a Navajo speaker will not know what they are talking about!  

Implementing the Navajo Code

The Code is ready.  Now it needs to be tested in battle!  Four hundred trained Navajo code talkers are sent to the Pacific islands of Iwo Jima, Tarawa, Guadalcanal, and Bougainville.  The fighting is fierce.  The noise of guns and grenades is deafening at times.  The code talkers work in pairs with no code books; everything is memorized.  They can’t risk the enemy finding the books and learning the code.  They can hardly think, speak, or hear each other with all the noise during intense battles.  And other times they have to be very quiet when speaking on the radio, especially at night, so their voices or the squawk of the radio will not give them away. 

They relay messages day and night – such as where US planes and ships should land or fire, where the enemy is located, where to send more troops, or where to pick up injured soldiers.  This is incredibly important work and is very stressful and tiring – plus they have to stay safe themselves through all this action.  They are always the first to land and the last to leave in battle. They are on the front lines of battles learning important information to pass back to their commanders. It is very hard for them to stay alive and send accurate messages every day; however, they successfully send over 800 messages during the battle of Iwo Jima alone without one mistake! Due to their heroic actions and their secret code, the US wins the famous battle at Iwo Jima.

The Navajo Code Talkers serve for three years in battles all across the Pacific Islands, relaying thousands of messages, saving countless lives, and securing victory in the Pacific with the US Marines.  The enemy never cracks their code.  

Finally, the war ends and the Navajo code breakers return to their homes and families in the Navajo Nation.  Some have died bravely in battle, but many have miraculously survived.  Their code and mission remain secret and confidential for more than 20 years, until details are released in 1968.  That is because the US military continued to use their Navajo code in other battles, such as Vietnam and Korea.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan honored the code talkers and declared August 14 “Navajo Code Talkers Day.”  In 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Congressional medals of honor to 29 of the original code talkers, followed by additional award ceremonies in 2001 by President George W. Bush and 2017 by President Donald Trump.  

Code Talker Peter MacDonald states, “What a privilege God had given to us to do that job, for selecting the Navajo!”  He opens his old, faded code book. With a gnarled finger, he traces across the page and lands on the word “America.”  Beside it is the Navajo code: “Our Mother.”  His weathered face breaks into a grin – the Navajo have helped save America, their nation’s mother.

Our Debt to the Navajo Code Talkers

I think we owe a large debt of gratitude to the Navajo Nation and the brave young men who fought so valiantly in the Pacific relaying thousands of messages swiftly and accurately while under extreme battle conditions.  They offer us many important life lessons about duty, honor, service to others bravery, courage, and so much more.  Each of us in our own way has something to offer to the world: a skill, a talent, a helping spirit, or a language!  Just think what amazing things we can accomplish if we work together and help one another.  What is your special gift and what could you do to better your community?

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Can you imagine living in a time when there were no cell phones, email, and other electronic devices to communicate with friends and family members living far away? For a very long time, this is how everyone lived. Instead of making phone calls or sending texts or emails, they wrote letters to each other. The letter would explain how they were doing and what was going on in their lives. The only problem was mail often took very long to move from one place to another. Imagine if you had something very important to tell someone, but they wouldn’t find out about it until weeks later! 

Our story takes place in the United States in the 1800s. This was a time when much of the country was still wilderness and pioneers were still settling the land. It was the time of cowboys and farmers who lived in distant places. Native Americans also still occupied the land between cities and towns. At this time, there lived a creative businessman named William Russell. William Russell saw how long it took for letters to travel across the country and wondered if there was a better way to do it. If people could get their mail faster, they’d be much happier. After thinking about it, William had a great idea. To send letters faster, he could use horses and riders who rode very fast from one stop to another. This would be much faster than stagecoaches and wagons which were slower and had to rest many times along the way. After finding some money for the business, William and his team got busy building 200 stations. These stations started in the state of Missouri and stretched all the way to California, thousands of miles across the United States. 

Once the stations were finished being built, riders and horses were prepared for the job of carrying the mail. Riders started in Missouri and raced on horseback to the next station at full speed. Once they reached the next station, they were very tired, but waiting for them was a new horse and rider, who grabbed the mail and rode as fast as they could to the next station. Instead of letters taking 20 days, these horses and riders delivered mail across the country in just 10 days. That was twice as fast!  William Russell decided to call his new company The Pony Express.

The riders of The Pony Express

The Pony Express riders need to be very fast and very brave. The journey from Missouri to California was often very dangerous. They could be attacked by wild animals or bandits who wanted to take the mail. To find riders, posters were posted all over towns with the words: “Young, skinny, wiry fellows, not over 18. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.”   Even though the job was dangerous, many brave, young riders volunteered to help.

Like the job posting said, Pony Express riders needed to be small and light so it was easier for the horse to carry them. Some of the riders were often as young as 14 years old. One man named “Bronco” Charlie Miller said he rode for the Pony Express when he was only 11 years old! Riders were paid $100 to 150 dollars per month, which was pretty good money at the time.

When Abraham Lincoln was elected President and gave his first speech, Pony Express riders carried a copy of the speech from Nebraska to California in just 7 days and 17 hours, which was the record for the fastest mail delivery in Pony Express history.

Meet Bob Haslam

One of the most famous Pony Express riders was named Bob Haslam. Bob was born in England and came across the ocean to America when he was just a boy. His family moved to Salt Lake City, and there he worked on a ranch and as a messenger. He was known for being brave and loyal and always getting the job done. Loyalty means others can trust you because you do what you say you are going to do. 

When Bob was 20 years old, he joined the Pony Express. During one ride he got to the station only to learn that Native Americans were in the area and he couldn’t stop. Even though he and his horse were very tired, Bob kept on riding. Bob persevered. Perseverance is when you keep doing something even though you want to give up. Bob continued riding until he reached the next station, only to find that it was under attack as well! Bob didn’t know what to do. He and his horse were tired and hungry! Bob knew he had to get the job done and deliver the mail, so he continued riding! Once he reached the next station he handed his mail off and rested for 9 hours. But after resting, Bob wasn’t done yet. He picked up the next bag of mail, hopped on his horse, and rode back in the other direction. His 380-mile trip was the longest Pony Express ride in history. From then on he was known as “Pony” Bob and will always be remembered for his amazing ride. 

Later, when Pony Bob grew old and passed away the newspaper printed “‘Pony Bob’ Haslam, Who Knew No Fear, Dies in Chicago — a man once famous throughout the United States for his courage, endurance, and skill.”

What happened to The Pony Express?

Although the Pony Express was a great idea, it ran into problems very early on. It cost a lot to build all of the stations and pay the riders and a war erupted between Native Americans and settlers in the area, making it difficult for riders to get from one station to the next. Also, within a few years, the telegraph was invented. The telegraph was a very long wire that stretched all the way across the country. The wire was used to send messages across it almost instantly. Because of the telegraph, the Pony Express was no longer needed. But the Pony Express and its riders like “Pony” Bob will go down in history for their strength, bravery, and perseverance.

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Imagine the sky, stretching out clear and blue above you for what seems like forever. The desert landscape also seems to go on and on, with no houses or other buildings, not even a road as far as the eye can see, but hardly empty. You can see cactus plants, brush, and the dark figures of cattle moving on the plains, and a few distant mountains on the horizon. 

This is the kind of scene that Sandra Day O’Connor would have looked out on from her childhood home in Arizona, near the Gila River. It’s a quiet, remote place that holds both possibilities and danger. Sandra would learn early how to handle the dangers, but her life was also full of possibilities that, with a little hard work on her part, would take her to places far beyond that seemingly endless desert. Though her family had lived there for generations and she always considered Arizona home, Sandra would live and work in California, Germany, and Washington DC. She would become a lawyer, politician, and finally the first female justice, or judge, on the United States Supreme Court.

Sandra was the first of three children, and the oldest by far. The ranch where the family lived was called the Lazy B, and Sandra became a part of ranch life from the very start. She had to, because the Lazy B was pretty far from anywhere, and her parents and their ranch hands had a lot of work to do running a cattle ranch. Sometimes the cowboys who worked on the ranch would babysit Sandra. As soon as she could sit up as a baby, a ranch hand would balance Sandra in front of him on the saddle and take her for horseback rides around the Lazy B.

Sandra and her siblings had to learn to take care of themselves and help out on the ranch. There were many jobs to do on the ranch, and many dangers in the desert. You could fall from a horse, come face-to-face with a rattlesnake, or have a brush with a cactus. Plus, the Lazy B Ranch was far away from any towns. The nearest paved road was 9 miles away, and the nearest doctors were over 200 miles away. The family house didn’t have running water or electricity until Sandra was seven years old. 

There were no neighbors nearby, and therefore no other children to play with, for miles around. But Sandra liked to care for small and injured animals, like mice, crippled birds, and stray kittens. She also learned to love reading, and books kept company. On birthdays, their mother would make angel food cake, and the children would spend hours taking turns churning fresh cream into homemade ice cream. In this way. The children all learned to help each other and themselves. 

When it came time for Sandra to go to school, her parents thought she would get a better education in a bigger town. So Sandra went to live with her grandmother in El Paso. She loved her private girl’s school, and made many lifelong friends there, but she also missed the ranch and family dearly. She went back to live with her family for eighth grade, but the hours-long daily commute to get to the closest school was very difficult, so she went back to El Paso the next year. 

Sandra was a very good student–so good that she finished high school at 16 and enrolled at Stanford University in California. She would go on to complete law school there, graduating in just two years, instead of the usual three. Even though she finished fast, Sandra made the most of her years in law school. She was the editor of the school’s law review. She met and became friends with William Rehnquist, who would later serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court while she was on the court. She also met John Jay O’Connor, who would become her husband after her graduation. 

Unfortunately, Sandra had a hard time finding work after law school because of her gender. She was offered a job as a legal secretary, which didn’t really require the law degree she had worked so hard to earn. But at the time, many people wrongly thought that women just didn’t make good lawyers.

But at least that job was paid. Her other option was to work for free as an attorney for the county of San Mateo in California. Sandra decided it was more important to do the kind of work her education had prepared her for than to get paid. So she took the job with the county. After working for a few months in a small office that she shared with a secretary, the county realized she was actually good at her job and decided to give her a salary. This wasn’t fair at all of course–someone who has gone to one of the best law schools in the country and graduated early shouldn’t need any more proof they’re good enough to be paid as a lawyer. 

In the 1950s, John was drafted into the army. Sandra went with him to Germany where he served. For three years, she worked as an attorney for the army there. When they returned to the US, the O’Connors settled in Maricopa County, Arizona. They had three children, and Sandra took a break from practicing law. She did keep busy though: she volunteered in political organizations, did volunteer legal work, and worked on the presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater. 

In 1965, O’Connor went to work again, this time as an attorney for the state of Arizona. In 1969, she was appointed to the Arizona state senate when another senator resigned. O’Connor was re-elected twice after that, and became a leader in the Arizona state senate. As a politician, she supported issues that were important for both political parties– the Democrats and the Republicans. If she thought something was a good idea, it didn’t matter whether the person who had it was in her own party.  

O’Connor went on to serve as a judge in various Arizona state courts. Judges do a few different things depending on the type of court they work in. In trial courts, a jury of citizens decides whether a person accused of a crime is guilty, and the judge decides what the punishment, or sentence should be. In other courts, called appeals courts, judges decide whether cases from the trial courts were decided fairly. Sometimes, they will overturn another court’s decision, that is, say it wasn’t fair. O’Connor was a judge in both types of court.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected president of the United States. During his campaign, he made a promise: If a Supreme Court justice left the court during his term in office, he would nominate the first female justice to the court as a replacement. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States. It doesn’t decide whether individual people are guilty of wrongdoing. Instead, the justices on the Supreme Court decide whether laws are valid. To do this, they carefully look at whether a law conflicts with any part of the United States Constitution. If it does, then a law is not valid and cannot be enforced. The Constitution is the highest law in the country. No other laws can contradict it, or infringe on the rights it guarantees to people, such as freedom of speech, freedom to gather with others, and the right to have a trial with a jury. The president chooses a new Supreme Court justice whenever one leaves the court. Justices can serve on the court for as long as they want, including the rest of their life, so it’s a pretty important and powerful job. 

In 1981, Justice Potter Stewart resigned from the court, giving Reagan a chance to fulfill that promise. Who do you think he chose? Sandra Day O’Connor, of course! That may be obvious given that she’s the person we’ve been learning about today, but many of Reagan’s supporters didn’t approve of O’Connor and thought she would make decisions in the court that would go against their interests. But, the US senate, which must approve all Supreme Court Justices, approved O’Connor in a vote of 99-0. Of the 100 senators, only one did not vote for her, and that was only because he was out of town. This was a huge level of bipartisan support, meaning senators from Reagan’s own party, the Republicans, and the Democrats all thought she was a good choice for the job. 

During her time on the court, O’Connor helped decide all kinds of cases that would have a lasting impact on people and laws throughout the country. In the beginning, she usually voted with the conservative justices, who tended to agree with President Reagan and the Republican party, though not always. Remember, even when O’Connor served as a politician, she thought it was important to consider whether each idea was good or bad, not whether it came from someone on your side or the other side. As a judge, she believed she needed to be fair and impartial, and follow the law even if it might not make her popular. Eventually though she became the “swing” vote, meaning when the other eight justices were divided four-to-four on a case, her decision was usually the one to decide the case. This tie-breaker position made her very powerful! 

After 25 years on the Supreme Court, O’Connor retired in 2006 to take care of her husband, who was sick.  Since leaving the court, she has worked on getting children more involved and educated on government and civics. She started a website called iCivics, where kids can play games that help them learn about how our government works. You can see what it takes to immigrate to the United States from another country, run a law firm where you decide whether people’s constitutional rights have been violated, and even pretend to run for president! 

O’Connor believes it’s important for people, including kids, not only to learn about the ideals that the United States government is based on, but also see how that government actually works. It can be very complicated and messy at times! It’s not always easy to decide what’s fair or right in a certain situation, but as O’Connor has put it, “it’s possible to disagree without being disagreeable.” It’s possible to be respectful towards one another, even if we don’t agree on something. Grown-ups don’t always agree on how our country should be run, but people like Sandra Day O’Connor remind us to look at different perspectives and keep a mind as clear and wide-open as the desert sky. 

Sources

O’Connor, Sandra Day and H. Alan Day. Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest. Random House, 2002

https://www.oyez.org/justices/sandra_day_oconnor

https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/about-federal-judges

https://web.archive.org/web/20161230005439/http://www.azcourts.gov/coa1/Former-Judges/SANDRA-D-OCONNOR

https://web.archive.org/web/20160330065438/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/03/29/how-sandra-day-oconnor-became-the-most-powerful-woman-in-1980s-america/ 

https://web.archive.org/web/20161221031035/https://www.azsos.gov/sites/azsos.gov/files/canvass1974ge.pdf 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Day_O%27Connor

Quotes:

“It’s possible to disagree without being disagreeable.”

“As a citizen, you need to know how to be a part of it, how to express yourself – and not just by voting.”

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Have you ever noticed how different music can make you feel different things? Some music makes you feel joyful and energetic, like you need to get up and dance. Some can make you feel sad, even make you cry. Other music might make you feel calm or hopeful. Music can remind you of things that happened a long time ago, or of people you love, and make you feel like they’re right there. But for some people, music doesn’t just change the way they feel. It changes their entire life.

Louis Armstrong didn’t start out with many advantages in life. Born in 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana, his family was extremely poor and their neighborhood was so dangerous, it was nicknamed “the Battlefield.” His father left the family when he was a baby. At different times, Louis lived with his mother and grandmother, and had to support his family by doing odd jobs even as a small child. 

But, Louis did have something special. He had a horn and a voice, and he could make music with both.  He would often hear jazz music coming from the clubs and dance halls of New Orleans. He learned to sing some of the songs that wafted out into the warm night air, and even play some of them on a beat-up old tin horn.

As a child, he organized a quartet with his friends and sang on street corners for coins. Some people think this is how he got the nickname Satchmo, which would stay with him all his life. The story goes that when passersby tossed coins on the sidewalk, Louis would snatch them up and put them in his cheeks so that the older boys couldn’t steal them. He was using his mouth like a satchel or bag, which led his friends to start calling him “Satchel Mouth,” then Satchmo for short. 

There are many stories about how Louis got his first real horn, many of which he told himself! One of the best known involves a family he worked for. At age 7, Louis went to work for the Karofskys, a Jewish family from Lithuania who ran a junkyard. The Karnofsky family treated Louis like family, sharing meals with him and treating him with kindness. Louis helped them deliver coal and collect junk. Sometimes, he would play his tin horn to attract business. Even though Louis managed to get tunes out of this horn, it was really just a toy.  He longed for a real horn.

Knowing how much Louis loved to play, the Karnofskys lent him money to buy his first real cornet, which is like a smaller version of a trumpet. For the rest of his life, Louis wore a Star of David, a Jewish symbol, on a necklace in honor of the family. 

Unfortunately, getting the cornet wasn’t quite a ticket out of Louis’s hard life. When he was 12, Louis took out his stepfather’s gun on New Year’s Eve, and shot it into the air. This was a common thing to do at celebrations in the past. No one was hurt, but Louis was arrested. He was sentenced to spend two years in the Waif’s Home for Boys. “Waif” is an old-fashioned word for a child who was unhealthy or uncared for. But the home was closer to being a prison than a real home. There were no mattresses to sleep on, meals were usually bread and molasses, and discipline was harsh. 

But, there was one good thing. There was music. There was a band, and a music teacher, Peter Davis, who came every week to teach music and conduct rehearsals. Davis taught Louis to play cornet, and then trumpet. Eventually, he made Louis the band’s leader. 

Louis was released from the Waifs’ Home after two years. He could play very well now, and he started performing in clubs and on riverboats as part of a band. He got to meet other musicians, including Joe Oliver, often called “King” Oliver. King Oliver was the best cornet players in New Orleans, and Louis idolized him. He began to take lessons with Oliver.

In 1922, Oliver asked Louis to join his band, the Creole Jazz. Band. They set off for Chicago, where they performed in clubs and made records. By now, Louis was becoming famous in his own right, and left Oliver’s band in 1924 in search of new opportunities. He moved to New York City. There he worked with many of the most famous jazz musicians of the time, and formed his own band, “The Hot Five” within a few years. 

Along the way, Louis developed his own unique style of playing and singing. At the time, most jazz was played in groups, but Louis would improvise amazing solos in the middle of his songs. Improvising means to make up something as you go along, and it isn’t easy to do it well, but Louis was one of the best. This is part of what made his music so new and exciting to listen to, and it would change jazz forever. 

Louis also continued to sing in addition to playing the horn. He became known for his unusual singing voice, which was deep and gravelly.   He was one of first performers to popularize scat singing, in his 1920s hit “Heebie Jeebies.” This technique involved singing improvised made-up syllables, like dee-dop-a-dee-ya, and would become very common in jazz.

In 1943, Louis moved back to New York and settled in Queens with his wife Lucille. He would live there for the rest of his life. But even though he had settled in one city, Louis’s career was far from winding down. He continued recording, performing, and making movies for nearly three more decades. Sometimes, he would play more than 300 shows per year. He was internationally famous by this time, and popular with both black and white audiences at a time when much of the United States was still segregated by race.  

Actually, some civil rights activists were critical of Louis because they thought he wasn’t a strong enough supporter of civil rights for black Americans. Louis didn’t like to get involved in politics though, and tried to keep a positive, happy outlook on life. But he understood that big changes needed to happen. He did eventually speak out against how the government handled school integration, saying that it hadn’t done enough to protect black students trying to go to schools that had previously been all-white. 

Louis’s career kept him busy throughout the 1950s and ‘60s. His single “Hello Dolly”, recorded in 1964, pushed the Beatles out of the number one spot on the Hot 100 chart, where they’d been for weeks. It was the best selling record of his career. He made more than thirty movies, with people like Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Barbara Streisand, and worked with many famous jazz musicians, such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby. 

Even though he loved playing music, the trumpet can be hard on a player’s mouth. Louis developed health problems, some of which were related to his playing, when he was in his 60s. He had to quit playing altogether at times. He always went back to his horn though. The last time he went against the advice of his doctors, he said, “My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn.” 

That was in 1971, and Louis’s health was deteriorating. He played his last concert just a few months before he passed away peacefully in his sleep.

Louis recorded his last major hit single, “What a Wonderful World,” in 1967. If you know one Louis Armstrong song it’s probably this one. In it, he sings about all the beautiful things in this world: trees of green, rainbows, blue skies, and friends. He ends by singing:

I hear babies cry

I watch them grow

They’ll learn much more

Than I’ll never know

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world 

I don’t know about you, but this song–and Louis’s story–make me feel hopeful. Louis Armstrong started his life having almost nothing, and lived through a lot of hardship early on. But he found something–music–that he excelled at and that he loved doing. Louis shared his gifts with everyone. He entertained the rich and famous, but also played his horn for neighborhood kids on the stoop of his house in New York.  His contributions to jazz changed music forever. Just as important, his music inspired millions of people around the world to see just what a wonderful world it is. 

Sources

https://www.biography.com/musician/louis-armstrong

https://www.commentary.org/articles/terry-teachout/satchmo-and-the-jews/

https://www.larmstrongsoc.org/quotes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Armstrong

The post History of Louis Armstrong for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Today, I’m going to ask you to close your eyes and imagine. But I don’t need you to picture anything in your imagination this time. Instead, just imagine you’re in a dark place. It’s chilly and a little damp. The walls are cold and hard, like they’re made out of rock. You say something, and you hear your voice echo off the walls and back to you. Finally, you find a flashlight in your backpack and turn it on. 

Where are you? 

If you guessed that you’re in a cave, you’re right! If you’ve ever wanted to go spelunking–that’s what it’s called when you explore a cave–then this episode is for you. And we’re not just exploring any old cave. We’re going deep into the history of the longest cave system in the world: Mammoth Cave in the state of Kentucky, in the USA. Mammoth Cave became a National Park in 1941, but it had a long and fascinating history before that.

Caves like Mammoth form when water slowly wears away at the rocks underground, creating underground caverns and tunnels. Mammoth Cave has over 400 miles of tunnels and caverns, and it’s still being mapped. In fact, explorers recently found 8 more miles of passages! The cave is also home to some unique animal life, such as bats, salamanders, and  blind cave fish. Did I mention there are actually rivers inside the cave?!

Not only are there rivers in the cave now, but 300 million years ago, the whole area was a sea! Limestone formed slowly from fine sands at the bottom of the ocean and created fossils of ancient sea creatures. So today, scientists and visitors can find fossils of everything from small shellfish to giant, ancient sharks, even though the oceans are thousands of miles away now! Later on in the cave’s history, other animals were fossilized in the cave as well. 

Mammoth Cave isn’t just interesting for what it can tell us about Earth’s past though. It’s a part of many fascinating stories about human beings too!

The first humans to explore Mammoth cave were Native Americans. Woodland Native Americans explored and used the cave over 4,000 years ago. There’s evidence that they explored at least 19 miles of the cave’s passages. They mined minerals from the cave walls, which they may have used for medicinal or religious purposes, but scientists aren’t really sure. They left many items behind in the cave, like gourd bowls, torches used to light the way, and sandals. They also made artwork by carving into the rock walls or drawing on them using charcoal.  

European Americans discovered Mammoth Cave in the 1790s. They discovered that the cave contained saltpeter, which was used in making gunpowder. They began mining for saltpeter using enslaved laborers. This went on through the war of 1812, but after that, the need for saltpeter for gunpowder decreased. Within a few years, the owners of the cave started giving tours to curious visitors. 

In the 1840s, one owner of the property, Dr. John Croghan, built a small hospital for tuberculosis patients inside the cave. He had noticed that logs and artifacts inside the cave didn’t seem to break down like things left outside on the surface. He reasoned that maybe something about the cave had the power to keep things from decaying. Maybe the cave air could help people suffering from the disease to recover. If the cave worked as a treatment, he planned to set up a whole hotel inside for treating sick people. Unfortunately, the cave didn’t turn out to be a magical cure for tuberculosis: his patients got worse instead of better, and he closed it down after a few months.

It wasn’t a total loss for Dr. Croghan though. By this time, the cave had become a very popular tourist destination, and Dr. Croghan, like the previous owner, sold tours of the cave in addition to having his hospital. This was still before the Civil War that ended slavery in America, and sadly, most of the tour guides were enslaved African American men. This brings us to one of the most interesting parts of Mammoth Cave’s history.

The most famous of these tour guides was Stephen Bishop. He explored many new areas of the cave, using ropes to find his way back and torches to light the pitch-black passageways. He built a bridge over one of the caves’ deepest chasms, known as the Bottomless Pit, so that tour groups could see more parts of the cave. He also drew one of the first maps of the system based on his explorations. 

But Stephen Bishop wasn’t just a brave explorer. He had an expert-level knowledge of geology and mineralogy. Professors of geology who visited the cave were astounded by his knowledge. Bishop was famous well beyond Kentucky. Well-known and influential visitors to the cave spread the word about his brilliance and recommended that others request him as their guide should they visit. 

Two other early guides were Nick and Mat Bransford. Nick and Mat weren’t brothers but instead shared the same last name because, sadly, they were both owned by the same man. It was a common practice for enslaved people to be given their owner’s last name. Mat was one of the earliest tour guides. He was eventually freed and continued to work at Mammoth Cave as a guide, but paid. His son Henry and his grandchildren, Louis and Matt also worked as paid tour guides at the cave well into the twentieth century. The family tradition didn’t stop there though: his great-great-great-grandson works there as a park ranger now! 

Nick Bransford was also an enslaved tour guide and may have also done other work above ground on the cave property. Nick didn’t want to wait to be freed: he made a plan to buy his freedom. He asked his master how much it would cost to buy his freedom. When he finished his required tours and other work each day, he went back to the cave and captured eyeless fish from the underground springs. He then sold the unusual fish to tourists to earn extra money. After years of doing this, he was finally able to buy his freedom. He went on to become an important person in his community, donating land for a school. He stayed on at Mammoth Cave as a tour guide for over 50 years! 

Some of the visitors to Mammoth cave were famous and powerful–writers, politicians, even royalty. Though outside the cave, Stephen, Mat, and Nick were viewed as property as slaves, tourists inside the cave relied on them to keep them alive and safe during their visit. The cave could be a dangerous place for people who weren’t familiar with its layout and hazards. There were chasms and underground rivers that tourists could fall into if they weren’t careful. This included dead ends, slippery pathways, and loose rocks that could fall. Lamps and candles could blow out, leaving people in total darkness. Stephen, Mat, and Nick made sure their guests were safe by knowing the routes and the dangers, and being alert and prepared for any accidents. Most visitors respected these men for their bravery, knowledge, and skills because without them, going into the cave would have meant risking their lives. 

Though they all eventually gained their freedom and ended up working at the cave as paid workers, their lives as enslaved workers were unfair and, at times, harsh. Conditions in the cave were dangerous, as we’ve seen. Three of Mat Bransford’s children were sold away from him to different owners. But all three men, as well as other enslaved guides who worked at the cave,  showed that they were brave, capable, and accomplished individuals who deserved respect and admiration.  The same might be said for millions of other people who endured slavery in the United States, but whose stories we don’t know. Stephen, Mat, and Nick all wrote their names on the walls of Mammoth Cave in candle smoke. Even when people are forced into terrible situations, they are still capable of rising up–or going deep in the case of Mammoth Cave–and leaving their mark.

Mammoth Cave is an amazing natural wonder, but people like Stephen Bishop, Mat Bransford, and Nick Bransford give it an important human history as well. The world is full of natural places that also have interesting human stories–stories with twists, turns, and strange surprises, just like Mammoth Cave. So grab your flashlight and go exploring!

Sources

https://www.livescience.com/mammoth-cave-system-kentucky-record

https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=4EF84A9E-54F7-483C-BB54-A940BFAECBB8

https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/native-americans.htm

https://www.nps.gov/people/mat-bransford.htm

https://www.nps.gov/people/nick-bransford.htm

https://www.nps.gov/people/stephen-bishop.htm

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/enslaved-tour-guide-stephen-bishop-made-mammoth-cave-must-see-destination-it-today-180971424/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Bishop_(cave_explorer)

Recommended Reading

Bradbury, Jennifer, 2015. River Runs Deep. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York.

Hensen, Heather, 2016. Lift your Light a Little Higher: The story of Stephen Bishop: slave-explorer. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York.

The post History of Mammoth Caves for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Close your eyes and imagine you are sitting in a stadium with crowds of people all around you. You smell buttery popcorn and freshly cooked hot dogs. “Peanuts! Popcorn!” A vendor yells from across the aisle. “Get your peanuts, popcorn!” As everyone gets seated there is a feeling of excitement in the air. The loudspeakers start playing, “Take me out to the ballgame!” The crowd sings along. You hear the crack of a baseball against a bat. The game has begun! 

If you’re familiar with baseball do these nicknames sound familiar? The Sultan of Swat? The Great Bambino? The Colossus of Clout? These are all nicknames for one of the most famous baseball players to have ever lived, Babe Ruth!

Babe Ruth’s real name was George Herman Ruth Jr. and he was born in Baltimore, Maryland on February 6, 1895. His grandparents were immigrants from Europe, so the first language he spoke was German. Growing up, his dad owned and ran a saloon. There, Ruth really did whatever he wanted. He didn’t have many rules and just ran wild with his friends through the streets of town. And with his dad being busy with the business, Ruth got into a lot of trouble. In fact, he got into so much trouble and his parents couldn’t control him that they put him in St. Mary’s Industrial School. This was a special school for boys who needed more structure than their parents were able to give them at home. At the school, one of his teachers, Brother Matthais, loved baseball. He taught the boys how to play and Ruth got into the game, too. Ruth ended up living at the school for 12 years and there got a basic education and learned some life skills. He used these skills and became a shirtmaker and could make things out of wood, known as carpentry. 

Ruth kept playing baseball and when he was 19 tried and made the minor league team for the Baltimore Orioles. The other players teased Ruth because he was the favorite or “darling” of the owner, Jack Dunn. Because of this they started calling him “Babe”!  This is how Babe Ruth’s famous nickname was born! Even though Babe Ruth was a big success with the Orioles, the owner ran into money trouble and he was forced to sell his best players to the Major Leagues.

From there Ruth was sent to play for the Boston Red Sox. When Ruth first started playing, he was a left-handed pitcher but really wanted to bat more, so he started playing outfield and first base. Ruth tried to hit almost everything, and because of that, he struck out a lot! But he was very determined and never gave up. He even said that “Every strike brings me closer to the next homerun”. And the Red Sox fans loved him, because he did hit a lot of homeruns! One year he hit home runs in 4 games in a row. The next year, he helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 1918. 

In 1919 Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees. The Red Sox sold him because the owner wanted more money and Babe Ruth was worth a lot. And the New York Yankees wanted him because they hoped he could help them win a World Series. There were lots of mixed reactions to him being traded. Some Boston fans were devastated to lose Ruth, while others thought he was too much trouble. While he wasn’t playing baseball, he spent a lot of time partying and sometimes getting into trouble. But the Boston fans who liked Ruth, believed that trading him started an 84 year “curse”, during which the Red Sox did not win a World Series. It was called “The Curse of the Bambino”. Before he was traded, the Red Sox had won 5 of the 15 World Series that had been played. But after they sold Ruth they didn’t win another World Series until 2004. 

With Ruth, the New York Yankees did very well! In fact, they won the World Series 4 times, and they won the American league title 7 times! When Ruth was traded to the Yankees he became a full time outfielder, and was now able to bat all the time. He hit home run after home run and the New York fans loved him! During his first year, the Yankees had a record number of people at the stadium, 1.2 million people. It was the first time that any Major League Baseball game attendance had reached 1 million. During his 13 years with the Yankees, he became the highest paid player up to that point, making 2 ½  times more than any other player in the league. At the time, Ruth even made more than the president of the United States! On the team he was part of a group of players called Murderers Row. They got that name from the power of the hitters. The players were Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel, Tony Lazzeri, and Babe Ruth. 

Sadly, Ruth spent many years of his life drinking too much alcohol and not taking care of his health. He also spent most of the money he made on things he didn’t need and that didn’t help better his life. Because of his poor health choices, he began to have trouble running the bases and catching the ball. He played his last full season with the Yankees in 1934. 

Ruth wanted to become a manager of a team himself but didn’t have any luck finding a position. But like hitting home runs, Ruth was never one to give up. He once said “you just can’t beat the person who never gives up.”  

Eventually he was traded to the Boston Braves as a “gate attraction.” This means he was hired not necessarily because he was good anymore, but because he’d been famous and would cause people to pay to come to the game to see him. 

He retired early that year in 1935. The next year he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Babe Ruth became popular at a time when baseball became very popular in the United States and known as “America’s Pastime.” One reason was because the world had just gone through the first World War and then the 1918 flu pandemic, which were very tragic times and many lives were lost. America needed something good and positive to focus on. Baseball and sports figures like Babe Ruth became a symbol of that optimism and fun pastime. He also symbolized an American Dream that someone who came from very little money and didn’t have a well-known family could become famous. His life also showed us that it’s important to take care of yourself and set rules for yourself. If we want our bodies to work well we need to take care of them by eating good foods and exercising.

Babe Ruth worked very hard and took risks to become one of the greatest home run hitters of all time. He once said, “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” This means there are many things you can worry about in life or fears that may keep you from acting. But like Babe Ruth said, if you worry too much about “striking out,” you’ll never get those things done and “swing the bat” and make the moves you need to take the next step in life. For you this might mean trying out for a sport or learning how to draw or some other skill. Don’t worry about what others might say or do, don’t worry about “striking out” and just act like Babe Ruth! 

The post History of Babe Ruth for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Close your eyes and imagine you are cold and sitting in the back of the boat. The sky is cloudy and many airplanes are flying overhead. The water from the chilly ocean is splashing into your boat and as you look ahead you see a beach which you and your team of soldiers must invade. Bombs explode in the water around you. Your boat tries to navigate through spikes and landmines that are guarding the water leading up to the beach. A boat nearby you is sinking from an explosion. “Out of the boat! Out of the boat!” someone shouts. The ramp to the front of the boat goes down and you rush out with the other soldiers. You are very scared, but you know in order to win the war this beach must be taken back! It is D-Day and you are one of the Allied soldiers preparing to take Normandy Beach in France.

For many years Hitler and the German Army controlled France and many other countries in Europe. The main goal of the Allies was to kick Hitler and his army out of France and take the fight to Germany. The Allies were made up of many countries, but the main ones were the United States, England, France, Russia, and Canada. D-Day was one of the most important missions of the war because it would take place on the beaches of France where the Allies would start taking back Europe from Hitler. 

The United States General Eisenhower was made command of the D-Day operation in January 1944. The Allies knew they wanted to attack, but weren’t sure where. And part of the plan was to trick Hitler into believing the attack would be from somewhere else, so he wouldn’t be able to concentrate all of his forces in one place. The Allies used many tricks to go about this such as spies, secret agents, fake tanks, and fake radio messages. They even put one of their best generals, George Patton, in different area to confused Hitler. Over 3,200 reconnaissance missions were used to prepare for D-Day. Reconnaissance means to to spy on the enemy and do research to decide how to act next. The original name of the mission was Operation Overlord, and only later referred to as D-Day.

The plan was to attack the Germans on Normandy Beach. 5,000 ships and 11,000 airplanes were used during the attack. After the ships brought in the soldiers, the plan was to put them all on amphibious vehicles, move them to the beach, then the soldiers would attack the Germans guarding the beach.

But the morning before they started the attack the Allie’s planes dropped bombs on the Germans guarding the beach. French people living in a town nearby were awoken to the sound of bombs. A French villager lived near a house overlooking the beaches. He said: “I saw light coming from two bombs that exploded at the ridge of the cliff.” The Allies were doing everything they could to make sure the soldiers coming in on the beach would be safe.

The night before the invasion 24,000 soldiers also parachuted out of planes and landed behind the German army to help the troops who would be landing on the beach. These soldiers were called “paratroopers.”

One of the paratroopers was named Bob Nobles. He and his 16-man team flew in a plane across the English Channel. Just after midnight the light inside their plane told them it was time to jump out. They all lined up and one after another jumped out of the back of the plane. He said “By the time my parachute opened, I was on the ground!” He landed in a farmer’s field all by himself and took off his parachute. Then he hurried off on foot until he came across another paratrooper. “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” the other paratrooper shouted. “I’m from Indiana! But I forgot the password!” They were supposed to have a password to know who was on their side and who was the enemy. Bob laughed as they looked for the rest of the teammates. But most of the other paratroopers had missed the drop zone, the place they were supposed to land.

These paratrooper missions proved to be very dangerous and a challenge in some cases where the soldiers landed in the wrong place or were captured or shot as soon as they landed. But in other cases the soldiers were able to regroup and take bridges and help the soldiers who would be landing on the beach the next day. 

The original plan was to attack on June 5th, but the weather was very bad, so it was put off until June 6th. In a message to troops before they left, General Eisenhower told them, “The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory…. We will accept nothing less than full victory!”

On June 6th 1944 starting at 6:30 a.m. the amphibious vehicles took the Allied troops from the ships to the beach. Amphibious means something that works in water and on land. These vehicles were designed to float like a boat and drive like a car!

Over 100,000 Allied soldiers attacked the beach at the same time! They were from many different countries like the United States, England, and Canada. The invasion was the largest amphibious landing and assault in history!

For many months the German Army had prepared for an attack on the beach. They had built many defenses armed with machine guns, barbed wire, land mines, so attacking the beach was extremely dangerous. 

One of the soldiers, Colonel Moulton, was on the amphibious landing craft with his soldiers. He told them to fire smoke bombs into the sky so they would be hidden from the enemy machine guns. It helped some, but their landing craft was still smashed up and some of the soldiers died when they hit the beach. Telling his story many years later, he said that the “Germans built concrete strong points in the villages and we landed right in front of one,” which caused much harm to his fellow soldiers.

Another soldier, Harry Timmins, said that when their landing craft came on the beach “the noise was more than you could possibly imagine. There were explosions all around us in the sea and the shells and mortars were kicking up sand all over the beach. A couple of buildings were on fire and the guns on our boat also joined in the barrage and deafened us.”

Many soldiers lost their lives as they came out of the landing vehicles. In some places the water was too high, so sadly they sank with all their heavy gear on. 

Another soldier, Robert Watson remembered that nothing went quite as planned. Everything took longer than expected and his landing craft was taking on a lot of water. “Landing craft were exploding all around me,” he remembered and got very sick in his boat. He remembered someone yelling “Get to the beach!” Then their craft hit a floating mine and they had to climb onto another craft to get the rest of the way to the beach. After he finally got to the beach he said, “I was scared my ammunition wouldn’t work” because it was wet. But he was able to fire shots without any problem and started firing at the enemy. The company of soldiers he started with had 62 soldiers. Only 36 of them were left after the attack. Many of his friends never made it to the beach. 

The beaches were given different codenames. Omaha Beach and Juno Beach had the most casualties. A casualty is when someone is hurt or dies in battle. By the end of the morning over 4,000 soldiers had died during the intense battle! 

By the time the battle was done the Allies had taken the beach and started moving into France. It was one of the most dangerous battles of World War II, but also one of the most important as well. Now that the Allies were in France they had shown the world and Hitler that they were very strong and would be able to win the war. The war continued on for many more days, but because of the sacrifices made on D-Day there was hope for the people of France and people all around the world that the war would come to an end.

Do you know anyone who has served in the military? Take some time to think about their bravery in deciding to serve and what courage it must take to decide to put your life on the line for your country. Think about those who gave their life on D-Day and how many of the freedoms you have exist, because someone else has given up their own time and sometimes even their life. There is a quote that says “Freedom isn’t free.” Freedom is often something that has to be fought for. Because of this, we shouldn’t take our own freedom for granted. Think about what you might do to keep freedom strong wherever you live. This might mean learning more about government and your local leaders. This might mean learning about different laws and voting when you are the right age. It might also mean serving in the military as well. Whatever you do to help, remember that freedom is a wonderful thing that not everyone has; and something we should never take for granted.

The post The History of D-Day: Operation Overlord for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 in Kentucky to parents who were very poor at the time. They lived in the middle of the woods in a very small log cabin his father built. The woods were full of wild animals and no one else lived nearby. Every night Abe and his family slept on a hard dirt floor. When Abe was old enough to work he and his father, Thomas, ate a small breakfast, picked up their axes, and ventured off into the thick woods to chop down trees to make the land flat for farming. It was very hard work and they worked all day long. Abe became very strong chopping wood. He also began to grow very tall for his age. He grew so much that his pants became too small and because his parents were poor. They couldn’t afford to buy him new ones. Some people thought he looked funny because he was so tall and skinny, but they liked Abe because he was kind and funny. 

In Abe’s town there wasn’t a school, so most days he just worked. For a short time, a teacher lived a few miles away so Abraham did learn a little, but just enough to read and write. Once Abe learned to read it became his favorite thing to do. He only had a couple of books, but he spent any free time he had reading. When he learned something new he repeated the words over and over until he knew them by memory. He also wrote new words down. This helped him remember the words so he could use them later. 

After Abe and his father cleared the land of trees, they began farming. Most days he’d take a book out to the field and read in between planting. His mother, Nancy, read to him and his sister. She knew learning was very important and taught Abe this from a young age. Abe loved his mother very much.

Abe’s mother dies

When Abe was only nine his mother became sick and died. He and his family were very sad. Not long after this, his father left him and his sister for nine months while he went to find a new wife. Can you imagine being left alone for that long? Somehow Abraham survived, finding help from caring neighbors. Eventually, his father returned with their new mother. When Abe saw her on the road he ran and hugged her, even though he didn’t know her. He was just happy to have a mother again. 

Sarah turned out to be a very good mother to Abe. She found him new books and was kind to him. Abe’s father Thomas was hard on him. He was also known to be a very good storyteller. This was a talent Abe picked up and was known for later in his life.

Once Abraham was old enough to be on his own, he left home and started working for himself. He knew that by working hard, he could improve his life. He had a job moving goods down the river, then later worked in a store. Once while working in the store, someone paid the wrong amount of money. That night Abe walked very far to return the money. This is where he got his nickname “Honest Abe.” Honesty means telling the truth. 

Abe becomes a lawyer

One day in town, Abe went to the courthouse and saw a lawyer arguing a case. A lawyer is someone who understands the law and often helps defends others when they need something. When Abe heard the lawyer speaking, he decided that being a lawyer was what he wanted to do. Without going to a big school, Abraham read and studied and repeated words on his own until he knew everything he needed to become a lawyer. This took lots of time and practice but soon he became very smart and understood the law. He passed all the tests he needed and before long became a lawyer. He traveled from town to town on his horse helping others.

While working as a lawyer, Abe became interested in politics. Politics involves law and government and voting for new leaders. Abe wanted to become a leader so he could shape and change the country for the better. His first job in the state government was in the House of Representatives. Later, he was part of the U.S. House of Representatives. There he helped pass laws to build railroads and support banks so the state could grow and improve.

At the same time, slavery was a tragic problem in the United States. Slavery is when someone is forced to work without any pay. Many Americans had slaves that they treated very poorly and made work very hard. Abe knew slavery was horrible and was against slavery spreading to the new states in America. He argued this against another leader named Stephen A. Douglas. These arguments became very intense at times, because Americans were very upset about slavery, either being for it or against it. 

At this time, Abe ran for President of the United States. Many Americans in the South were against Abe being president because they wanted to keep slavery. Also, many Americans thought Abe could never win because he was just a farm boy from the woods who didn’t have very much money or schooling. But Abe cared about helping the country and to everyone’s surprise, he won and became the President of the United States! The people who loved Abe were very excited that such a caring man had become their new president.

The Civil War

But Southerners who wanted to keep slavery were angry and wanted to break off from America. They said they would form a new country where they could keep their slaves. This was called The Civil War because it was a war between two parts of our country, the North and the South. Soon very dangerous fighting began, and many soldiers on both sides died. It was a very sad time for the United States.

Abraham Lincoln wanted more than anything to keep the country together. He believed America was stronger and better as one country. But he was also very sad to see soldiers dying on both sides. Some wanted to quit the fight, but Abe was determined to not give up. He gave the Gettysburg Address and his bold words inspired Americans to follow him. He also worked to create new laws to stop slavery even when it was unpopular to do so. 

Finally, the war came to an end when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to the North. It was a time of much celebration for the North. Many lives had been lost, but in the end, the country stayed together and the slaves became free. Some leaders may have been harsh to the losing side of the war, but Abraham Lincoln was determined to show kindness and mercy to the South and do all he could to rebuild the broken country.

Abraham Lincoln dies

Not long after the war ended, while Abe was watching a play in Ford’s Theater, he was shot by the assassin John Wilkes Booth. The Americans who loved Abe were very sad at this news. They had lost the president who cared for them and saved the country. But having done all he could, Abraham Lincoln has gone down in history as one of the greatest presidents of all time.

Like Abe, no matter where you were born or to whom, you can decide to improve yourself and be a good person. Abe had very little, but he read everything he could and studied and worked until he could make a living for himself. He also decided to help his country by running for different offices in the government. These aren’t easy jobs, but when good people lead they can make a great difference. Like Abe, you can be aware of what is going on in your own communities and in your country. And when you’re old enough you can vote for good leaders and even become one yourself. Just remember, no matter your circumstances, if you make the decision to improve yourself and do good things, you can do it!

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