This is an IHeart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people.

To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to the IHeart Radio app to Apple Podcasts,

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From General George Washington to Audie Murphy, history's greatest war heroes gave everything for their country

and embodied the meaning of bravery with their incredible acts of selflessness.

Bruce Weigo is here to tell a story of an unknown American war hero.

Let's take a listen.

In 2005, I was lucky enough to be chosen to be the new president and executive director of the

International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

And I'd always been, I had a fascination with Benjamin Franklin, who himself was a renowned swimmer during his lifetime.

And one of the first things that I did at the International Swimming Hall of Fame was go into their

rare bookroom where I found a book called The Art of Swimming by the great 17th century scientist

Melchese-Dic Thievenau. And in Franklin's autobiography, this is the book that he used to teach himself

how to swim. One of the great puzzles of history has been Benjamin Franklin, greatest research

physicist and scientist of the 18th century. No scientific education. No education passed the age of nine. It's been long overlooked about the

influence of swimming on Benjamin Franklin. Swimming, as was presented in that book, is presented

as physics, as fluid dynamics. And then later in life, a kid with no science education

whatsoever outside of this book,

which taught him about specific gravity and Archimedes' principles of buoyancy and flotation,

positive buoyancy, negative buoyancy, and the impact of currents.

And when Benjamin Franklin becomes recognized as the greatest research scientist

...