Statement of Significance (as of designation - December 30, 1985):
In late July 1944, two Marine divisions succeeded brilliantly in a difficult amphibious operation and captured this island in the Northern Marianas, completing Phase III of Operation FORAGER. (Phases I and II were , respectively, the capture of Saipan and the liberation of Guam.) By assaulting two very small beaches code-named White 1 and 2, which together were 180 yards wide, the Marines confused Japanese commanders and established a beachhead at little cost in lives to the Americans. Tinian's North Field provided American forces with valuable air strips from which to mount raids on Japan; ultimately, the island served as the base from which the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were staged.