St. Goar, Germany

St. Goar, Germany - Click image for larger view

Today we cruised the Rhine River through what is call the the Rhine Gorge - the gorge took well over two hours to go through and during that time we passed the town of St. Goar. I am taking a moment here to salute my Dad, who in March of 1945, was here in St. Goar. He told us many times of his days here during the war. His first few days were days of waiting and wondering about when they would cross the Rhine to fight. It was so quiet they weren't sure if the Germans were even there on the other side in St Goarhausen. When the decision was made to go, the Germans opened fire with their huge guns and pinned down the 89th Division for another three days. Dad told stories about this town, the gunfire and the small boats and described it so well that I recognized it immediately. What he didn't say, and maybe didn't know was, that this area has the steepest hills and the swiftest and deepest part of the Rhine. This little town is just as I had imagined and I  imagine that today it looks much as it would have durning March of 1945 - So here's to you Dad, your boys are proud of all you did for our country and understand just a little bit better today about your time here in Germany.

NOTE: At some point I will post a whole gallery of the Rhine Gorge - I took over 450 photos of the castles and scenery - but the connection is poor aboard ship.