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Barack Obama has arrived in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, becoming the first U.S. president Friday to visit the city where an American warplane dropped the world's first atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 during World War Two.

He plans to make a few comments and place a wreath at the Peace Memorial.

Hours before his scheduled arrival, Obama met with U.S. and Japanese troops at Iwakuni air station, not far from Hiroshima, telling the troops his visit "is an opportunity to honor the memory of all who were lost in WWII." The president said, "It's a testament to how even the most painful divides can be bridged. How two nations can become not just partners but the best of friends."

The president has said he will not apologize for the decision then president Harry Truman made to drop the A-bomb on Hiroshima, killing 80,000 people instantly and wiping out 90 percent of the city. Tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure.

Obama said recently he knows "as somebody who has now sat in this position for the last seven and a half years, that every leader makes very difficult decisions, particularly during war time."

The decision to bomb Hiroshima was controversial. Several of Truman's top military advisers, including future president Dwight Eisenhower, objected and favored the conventional bombing already going on in Japan. Truman, however, was seeking a quick end to the war.