Rat race for Millie

FOUR Desert Rats are marking their first anniversary of helping to depose Saddam Hussein by running across the Sahara to raise money for leukaemia victims, including Scots girl Millie Forbes.

Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Jonnie Williamson, 31, Will Davies, 30, Johnny Hanlon, 28, and Bruce Ridge, 32, will start the gruelling Marathon des Sables almost a year to the day since they marched into Iraq's second city, Basra.

Known as the world's greatest test of endurance, the 145-mile desert race is the equivalent of running five and a half full marathons in six days.

The officers hope to raise pounds 50,000 for the bone marrow charity, the Anthony Nolan Trust.

Millie, 21, from Keig, Aberdeenshire, is undergoing post- transplant treatment after a donor was found last year.

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