On September 21st the long dreaded orders for Major-General McNair arrived and with them Secretary of War Baker, General Tasker Bliss and a flock of Major Generals and Brigadiers. That same day he relinquished the command to Brigadier-General Richmond P. Davis and left camp to take command of the Artillery of the First Army. The finishing touches were applied. We were inspected. We passed our examinations and were ready for the front. When would the orders come? There were already rumors of peace,--were we to miss the party after a year and a half of preparation? The thought was nauseating, but we stuck to our work. We knew our Brigade Commander was a hustler. We could see it, and General McNair had said so. Confidence ran high. We had an abundance of ammunition and General Davis ordered a problem to cover three days. The guns were to go into position at night and without lights; they did. We established communication by telephone, radio and projector, and maintained it. Conversation was in code and cypher. We were to fire an offensive barrage over the infantry; it was done. The infantry called for a defensive barrage at 11.40 at night; it was layed before the rocket burst. Altogether in this problem of four regiments the 75s fired about 6,000 rounds and the 4.7s about 600.[B] In the meantime it rained, or rather poured. The heavens were trying to make good for the past six months of inaction,--they did. Or perhaps it was the 302nd weeping for the now certain loss of Colonel Craig. He had received his promotion and it was only a question of time before his orders would arrive. Loved and respected by all who knew him, he was to leave a vacancy hard to fill. His officers gave him a dinner in Bordeaux on October 7th. III. THE FRONT It was while our problem was in progress that General Davis and part of his staff left for the front, October 11th. A few days later, on October 17th, he was followed by the rest of his staff. So the regiments polished and oiled their materiel and entrained at the camp for God-knows-where. One thing was certain and that was we were going forward and not back, for from Bordeaux it takes a boat to go in the latter direction. It was at this time that we knew definitely that the 301st was to leave the Brigade. It was to be army artillery and received different orders, confirming our fears when it was detached by telegraphic order of October 2nd. Hardly had the General with a few members of his staff arrived at the front when a stray shell killed his aide, Lieutenant W. B. Dixon, Jr., October 19th, 1918. He was buried with military honors where he fell near Bouillonville. He had been with us but a few days, but such was his personality and charm that he had become as closely identified with the Brigade as the oldest member of the staff. His death was a personal loss to every one of us.