Battleland

“Frozen Chosen” Marines

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Photo by Pfc. Kasey Peacock, USMC

TOKYO – Marines from I Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, slog through wind and snow during a joint training exercise with Japanese troops at the Hokkaido-Dai Maneuver Area in northern Japan last week. The exercise took place during one of the worst blizzards in the region in recent memory, with temperatures below zero F (–18 C), gale-force winds and snowfall measured in feet; at least eight local residents died in the storm.

The 6th Marines are based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., but began a yearlong deployment to Okinawa, Japan, last month, part of the U.S. “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific region. The Hokkaido training area is located across the Sea of Japan from the Korean Peninsula, where Marines fought an epic winter battle at the Chosin Reservoir in opening year of the Korean War.