Mandatory Fun is a weekly podcast about the military and pop culture. Join us in breaking cultural tropes and bridging the military-civilian divide through storytelling and entertainment. The show is hosted by the We Are The Mighty's editorial team: Air Force veteran Blake Stilwell, Army veteran Logan Nye, Navy veteran Orvelin Valle (O.V.), and benevolent smartass Tracy Woodward.

Paul Harvey, the great American broadcaster, tells the story of little Heinrich Steinweg, the German boy who moved to America & built the world's finest pianos, Steinway & Sons, Made in the USA since 1853. Call Steinway Piano Gallery - Plano (972) 403-1853 to select your handcrafted treasured Steinway & Sons piano.

"The rest of the story. When the 19th century was young, and Henry was only eight, the French invaded Germany. The boy's father and three older brothers joined the German army to defend their homeland. The rest of the family remained in Wolfshagen. And yet, there and then, the battlefront and the home front often blurred. For after the men of the house had left to engage the French in some distant battle, the enemy overran and occupied Henry's hometown. He and his mother and young brothers and sisters had to flee into the mountains. Through that terrible cold winter, the civilian family slowly perished, some from exposure, others from starvation. By spring, the only one left was little Henry. Not long after the little boy wandered down from the Frigid mountains, his father and three remaining brothers, home from soldiering, found him. And when the war was over, Henry's father returned to his former employment as a forester in the lush woodlands of the Duke of Brunswick. And all four brothers worked at their father's side. And the father never stopped reminding Henry that his survival through that harsh winter in the mountains was very much a miracle, that his youngest son had been spared for some purpose, though he knew not what. 

This is the rest of the story. Now the year was 1812. Henry is 15. His three older brothers are  laboring in the countryside with their father. And 1 minute the sky was blue, and the next, there was a terrific clap of thunder. The foresters looked up to see black storm clouds looming on the horizon rolling in fast. The father and four brothers and two other workers took refuge in a nearby shelter. And suddenly, the rain's coming down in an opaque wall of water and then, a flash of light, and later, after the storm had passed, woodsmen discovered the smoldering rubble. The shelter had been incinerated by the lightning bolt, and the bodies of the foresters who had huddled there lay lifeless in the ashes. The woodsmen counted seven, all of them dead, or so they thought. But one, one of them only stunned, had survived. And yes, that one was 15 year old Henry.

Henry is now is utterly orphaned and utterly penniless. He would have to make his own way in the world. But no matter how hard the hard times got, he remembered what his father had told him, that his life had been spared for a purpose. And after all that had happened, who could deny it? 

For indeed, the boy one day became a man. And the man one day became a maker of musical instruments, one whose name is revered even unto this day. 

You see the essence of Henry's monumental accomplishments in life is the destiny attached to them. For once upon a time, there was a child who lost his entire family, twice! And who was himself rescued from almost certain death twice! And who battled the odds to break new ground to set a new standard as creator of the world's finest pianos. You would recognize Henry only by his last name Steinway, the young forester who eventually taught the trees to sing. 

Now you know the rest of the story."

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