It was an unforgettable day. Girls in Lorraine costume lined the streets and flowers were thrown from windows on to the procession. The review took place in the morning on the Esplanade, and also the presentation of the star-studded baton to Marshal Pétain. The ceremony was opened with a speech by the President. Then followed a touching scene, when M. Poincaré and M. Clemenceau approached each other and joined in a long embrace.
In the afternoon there was a reception at the Hôtel de Ville when President Poincaré conjured up all the history of Metz concluding thus:
"The years have passed on Metz, and Metz has not changed.
"The protests which her great Bishop, Mgr Dupont des Loges, used formerly to carry to the Reichstag in the name of all the people of Metz, in the name of all the inhabitants of Lorraine, have continued after his death with the same quiet firmness, you, inhabitants of Metz, have repealed them, year by year, in your pilgrimages to Mars-la-Tour, in your visits to the cemeteries, in your worship of the memory of France.
"Beloved town of Metz, your nightmare is past, here is France back again opening her arms to you".
The procession was then received with great ceremony by Mgr Fell at the Cathedral and visited the cemetery of Chambière to pay homage to the dead of 1870.
On October 27th, 1919, the Croix de Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur was bestowed on the town of Metz with the following inscription:
Town whose persistent loyally to France never faltered during a captivity of 48 years;
Rich in a past glorious and without stain, unsullied by her misfortunes, exposed for centuries to the covetousness of a near enemy, she has richly deserved to be honoured because she has suffered so long.
She symbolises, in her deep affection for her Mother country, Lorraine, at last wholly restored as a French province.