During the night of November 3rd, in a heavy rain the division passed forward through the forest eight kilometers in advance of adjoining regiments, and within two days again advanced and threw the enemy in its front across the Meuse. The next morning at 6 o'clock it attacked and seized the German defense position on the ridge southeast of Vaux-en-Dieulet. On the night of November 10th heroic deeds were done by heroic men. In the face of heavy artillery and withering machine-gun fire, the Second Engineers threw two bridges across the Meuse and the first and second battalions of the Fifth Marines crossed unflinchingly to the east bank and carried out their mission. "In the last battle of the war," said an order of the Second Division, "as in all others, in which this division has participated, it enforced its will on the enemy." Of this achievement the commanding general of the Fifth Army Corps said: "This feat will stand among the most memorable of the campaign." "On the eleventh hour, the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 1918," Brigadier General Neville, commanding the Marine Brigade, in an order reviewing its great record closed with these words: "Along the fronts of Verdun, the Marne, the Aisne, Lorraine, Champagne, and the Argonne, the units of the Fourth Brigade Marines have fought valiantly, bravely, decisively. It is a record of which you may all be proud." Shortly after the armistice, General Lejeune was ordered to proceed to Germany. Stationed at Coblenz, for months his division was a part of the Army of Occupation. I had the honor of reviewing the division on the heights of Vallendar, near the junction of the Moselle and Rhine rivers, and to note that its discharge of duty in Germany was in keeping with the glorious record it had made in war. "Your brilliant exploits in battle," said General Pershing in a general order to the Second Division, "are paralleled by the splendid examples of soldierly bearing and discipline set by your officers and men while a part of the Army of Occupation." The Marines and their comrades of the Second Division were received with distinguished honor upon their return to the United States, President Wilson reviewing the men as they passed the White House to receive the heart-felt applause of a grateful people. The Secretary of War in a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, upon their return, wrote: "The whole history of the Brigade in France is one of conspicuous service. Throughout the long contest the Marines, both by their valour and their tragic losses, heroically sustained, added an imperishable chapter to the history of America's participation in the World War."