Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

US Marines arrive in Tinian to train with Japanese soldiers

Posted at 01:37 on 07 September, 2012 UTC

United States Marines have started arriving on Tinian in the Northern Marianas for a military that will also include soldiers from Japan.

65 Marines based in Okinawa arrived on Tinian on Thursday and another 150 Marines, along with Japanese Self-Defense Force troops, will follow early next week.

It will be an historic joint training - almost 70 years since forces from these two nations fought against each other on Tinian.

Tinian, one of the main islands of the CNMI, was the departure point for the two aircraft that carried the atomic bombs the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, in August 1945.