Band member completes Bataan memorial march Published March 30, 2010 By TSgt Jon Linker ESC/BA 30 March 2010 -- It's not as if Staff Sergeant Jason Millott has never marched before. As a member of the Air Force Band of Liberty, Millott typically marches in several parades every year playing his saxophone or carrying a mace as the bands' drum major. Those marches, however, are only about two miles long and typically take place on nicely paved city roads. The march Millott experienced recently in New Mexico was something completely different. Wearing his ABUs and carrying a 43-pound pack, Sergeant Millott marched 26.2 miles through the high desert terrain of the White Sands Missile Range to complete the 21st Annual Bataan Memorial Death March on March 21st. The course is full of miles of sand and takes place at elevations from 4,100-5,300 feet, almost a mile high. Millott finished in 8 hours, 14 minutes, 51 seconds. "I wanted a personal challenge," Millott said, "and this was something I could train for and accomplish and do it in uniform." The march is conducted in honor of the heroic service members who defended the Philippine Islands during World War II. Battling malaria and surviving on half or quarter rations with little or no medical help, they fought valiantly despite having outdated equipment and almost no air support. After surrendering to the Japanese on April 9, 1942, thousands of American and Filipino soldiers were marched for days in the scorching heat through the Philippine jungles. Thousands died. Those who survived faced the hardships of a prisoner of war camp. The Bataan Memorial Death March is designed to give participants just a small idea of what the soldiers went through during their long march through the Philippines. There are civilian and military categories and participants can choose between the full 26.2-mile course or a shorter 15.2-mile course. Millott is in excellent physical condition and trained hard for the event for 4 ½ months but found that nothing could truly prepare him for what he faced. "It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The terrain was a lot different than anything you find in New England," he said. "It started off I wanted to finish with a good time but that quickly went away. I started thinking about what if I had been one of those on the march 68 years ago. There was just a lot of reflection." The march began at 7am with temperatures in the 20s and the first few miles weren't too bad, Millott said. Around mile 8, however, the course began climbing for six straight miles with loose sand as far as the eye could see. Then at mile 21, marchers reached what is called the "sand pit", ankle deep sand over loose rocks and pebbles. By then temperatures were in the 70s and Millott's legs and feet were feeling the pain. "It was just a fight to stay up at that point," Millott said, "but there was a lot of support from other marchers. " He ended up with some extremely sore leg muscles and 16 blisters on his feet for his efforts. "I've never run a marathon before but I think I'd be willing to run a normal marathon after this," Millott said. "I think a normal marathon actually might be easier than this." The Bataan Memorial Death March was started by the Army ROTC Department at New Mexico State University in 1989 and moved to the White Sands Missile Range in 1992. Since its inception, the memorial march has grown from about 100 to some 5,700 marchers from across the United States and several foreign countries. While still primarily a military event, many civilians choose to take the challenge. SSgt Millott's first learned of the memorial march when his father-in-law participated in the civilian category seven years. That prompted him to learn more about Bataan and its victims and one book in particular, "Tears in the Darkness", really had an impact on him and stirred him to participate himself. Meeting some of the actual Bataan survivors at the opening ceremonies was one of the highlights of the weekend for Millott and reinforced his desire to do something to commemorate their sacrifice. "Most people nowadays in America have a very comfortable life," Millott said. "Being forcibly marched to a POW camp by the Japanese with no hope of rescue, it's almost hard to imagine those conditions these days." "This was a way for us to honor them and show that people remember what they went through. They may have felt forgotten at the time, but they are not forgotten now."