Audie Murphy Medal of Honor Site

Published December 19, 2016 at 3024 × 3024 in Germany Rhine River Cruise Includes WW2 Significant Tours

If you are a part of my generation, born after World War II, there is an awareness of huge sacrifices made by our parents. We had it good in 1950's America, but it was a good world they had created through deprivation in Depression and blood-letting by war brought to them. As we visited with family on holidays, their adult discussion often evolved around people from times past. People they once knew who did their duty or survived events; at Okinawa, or D-Day, or remembrances of where they were on learning of the Pearl Harbor attack. The countryside looked cold alongside the Rhine River in December from aboard a warm Viking River Cruises ship on its Rhine Getaway package. Picturesque countryside flowed past with the endless waters and I had planned many shore excursions for the days ahead. Shopping, restaurants, Medieval places, and UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Somehow, I couldn't help but imagine everything outside the windows in ruins from air bombardment and artillery duels. Cold American GI's doing what service demanded of them, and 'Home Alive in 45' encouragement shared between them. Earlier, before the war, Dictator Adolf Hitler cruised on these same waters from Koblenz (a Viking stop) on to Bad Godesberg, near Bonn. Or, Hitler may have ordered a nice drive through the vineyard regions between Mainz and Cologne (another Viking stop). Alongside the river, we passed Rheinhotel Dreesen, at Bad Godesberg, where Hitler had special bullet-proofed rooms and met with British PM Chamberlain in September, 1938. The agreements reached at the hotel resulted in Chamberlain declaring soon thereafter, "Peace for Our Time". One American veteran of the failed peace was Audie Murphy, combat hero and later movie star, who earned his Medal of Honor near Colmar, France. Viking organized a guided tour to see the battle areas for the Colmar Pocket that occurred in December of 1944. Once we were familiar with the critical situation as the Germans counterattacked, we saw where Audie Murphy called in artillery fire and stood atop a burning tank to shoot at advancing Germans. French locals have renamed Colmar streets The Americans, Audie Murphy, and after other heros. It impressed me that the people today really understood the struggle and still celebrate freedom at annual public events. Residents in 1940 suffered greatly as Hitler annexed the Colmar region. Hitler ordered the last ditch defense of the proclaimed German territory - retreat, or attempted surrender, could get one shot by the fanatical SS. See the local museum of World War II in Colmar. It has excellent display of weapons, uniforms, and artifacts. As the ship progressed on the Rhine River, we passed by Remagen where the first bridge over the Rhine was captured to bring World War II Allied armies into Germany. The stop for touring of Koblenz, a longtime fortification on the river, was the Headquarters of German Army Group B. Arriving in Cologne to see the massive cathedral there, we also enjoyed German cooking at local beer halls and outdoor markets. A quick search of the internet found the cathedral was the site of unique combat action photography. American tanks unexpectedly engaged a huge German Panther tank parked outside the cathedral. Today, where the German tank burned, is a McDonalds. I thought to myself, how surreal it is, all these tourists and young people with cell phones milling around the area. This is where young Germans and young Americans died with only about a month of war in Europe remaining. These were possibly friends of the old people around on holidays, those that made it home alive in 1945.

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