In Āpia, Malifa and Leififi school compounds became barracks and storage sites for ammunition and officers’ accommodation. The main fenced and guarded camp was three kilometres south of the harbour at Magia, which was labelled 'Taulaga Meleke' (American town) by Sāmoans. As the Marines moved beyond Āpia, they evoked memories of harsher times during the Mau period. In Solosolo, Faasalafa Leota recalled the first time the marines arrived. The pastor’s wife put on the minister’s robe and rang the church bell, as if calling for prayer: ‘However, it was a warning to the menfolk that the soldiers were coming to get them. All the men would run into the bush to hide because they were scared. There was one incident when one old man ran naked in fear. This was during the day. At night when they come, the men would climb the thatched roofing and hide there until they leave. They come to look for the blue, i.e., lavalava and tear away the ‘mau’ stripe. That was how our village reacted when the American marines came.’
On 7 August 1942, US Marines, mostly based in New Zealand, landed on the Japanese occupied Guadalcanal. As the battle, first for the airfield, and then to push the Japanese out of the Solomons, grew, the American presence in Sāmoa expanded.
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