Cadets in Cape Girardeau Central High School Air Force Junior ROTC walked 7 miles Saturday to commemorate the Bataan Death March that took place during World War II.

This is their first year for the commemorative march. According to retired Air Force Col. Michael Goodin, the program’s senior aerospace science instructor, cadets voluntarily signed-up to go on the march and also collected donations for the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Veterans Relief Fund.

The Bataan Death March was a forced 65-mile march from April 9 through 17, 1942, of tens of thousands of American and Filipino troops to prison camps by the Japanese; thousands perished because of it.

“You all are doing this as a commemoration of the Bataan Death March, so I want you to think about that” Goodin said to the cadets before they began the march. “Think about the sacrifices our former soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines have given for this country.”