Samoa Military Records

For most of its life as a colony and trusteeship territory, Samoa remained in the backwaters of the South Pacific. Only during World War II did it appear on the world stage, and then solely as a training base for thousands of Allied servicemen on their way to fight the Japanese in the islands farther west and north. Tourism increased after the big jets started landing at Pago Pago in the early 1960s, but significant numbers of visitors started arriving only after Faleolo Airport was upgraded to handle large aircraft in the 1980s.

Samoan soldiers in WWI. Roll of Honour of Samoa born Sailors and Soldiers who fought for the Allies in the Great War 1914-1918.