WASHINGTON (AP) — The soldiers spent months behind enemy lines, marching hundreds of miles through the tangled jungles and steep mountains of Burma as they battled hunger and disease between firefights with Japanese forces during their secret mission.

In February 1944, the American jungle fighting unit nicknamed Merrill’s Marauders set out to capture a Japanese-held airfield and open an Allied supply route between India and China. Starting with 3,000 soldiers, the Marauders completed their mission five months later with barely 200 men still in the fight.

The journey of roughly 1,000 miles on foot was so grueling that fighting “was the easy part,” said Robert Passanisi, who at age 96 is among just nine known Marauders still known to be alive.

Now the Marauders, officially designated by the Army as the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), have been approved by Congress to be awarded its highest honor: the Congressional Gold Medal.

Passanisi enlisted his fellow surviving Marauders and the families of many who have died to begin lobbying for the honor four years ago. A final bill approved in September was sent Oct. 6 to the White House, where it awaits President Donald Trump’s signature.

“After many years, all the sacrifices, and the suffering, are now finally recognized,” said Passanisi, of Lindenhurst, New York. “It makes you feel like it was all worthwhile.”