McKay Family Collection
After America entered the war in 1941 fate moved against the German Samoan parolees . Two years of freedom came to an end .
In the first half of 1942 the New Zealand Government and the administration in Samoa agreed to the stationing on Upolu of several thousand United States Marines as a defence force . Soldiers were also to be rotated into Samoa as a staging post before heading west to fight the Japanese . The Americans reportedly felt uncomfortable at the prospect of their troop dispositions taking place on an island where men of German descent were wandering free . As a result of this unease , 15 more men were taken into custody and sent to New Zealand , with most arriving at Somes Island in May , 1942 , the same month that nearly 5,000 American troops stepped ashore in Samoa .
This photo , taken at Apia Park in 1943 , shows a parade for Major General Charles Price ( in middle of senior officers ), who organised the defence of Samoa . He was visiting from his headquarters in San Francisco . Brigadier General Thomas E . Watson , who was the commander on the ground in Samoa , is obscured on the right . The man in civilian clothes was NZ Administrator , Mr Alfred Turnbull . Apart from US Military officers who took over the Casino Hotel , in Apia , most of the troops were based in a camp that spread around the coast from Faleolo ( where the Americans built the airport ) to Mulifanua . In the early stages of the American occupation there was also reportedly a camp on Savai ’ i .
| To Walk Under Palm Trees - The Germans in Samoa : Snapshots from Albums | Tony Brunt
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