I often hear about the role of civilians in Europe in WWII, but I only really know the Pacific campaign as battles between Japanese and Americans, Australians, and New Zealanders. Many of the battles (Tarawa, Guadalcanal, Truk, etc) were fought on islands with substantial indigenous populations. Outside of the widely misunderstood "cargo cults" how did the war effect them, and what role did they play in the fighting? Were there resistance movements, or was there not much difference between Japanese and European colonialism?
As a side question, how did Japanese and Western soldiers react to the often very different cultures found on the islands, particularly in Melanesia and Papua (which I am including in "Pacific Islands" for simplicity's sake)? I've often heard that the popularity of "tiki culture" was in part due to soldiers returning from the Pacific.
This question was prompted after reading after the unfortunately termed "fuzzy wuzzy angels" of Papua, and the atrocities visited on them from both sides of the Kokoda Track campaign.
How exciting, a question that coincides with my thesis!
From what I have researched, the islanders themselves were pretty much ancillary personnel to the Allied troops, treated as additional help and as a curiosity. My grandfather (who was stationed on Papua in 1944) wrote about his interaction with them as a sort of touristic attraction, much like one would go to a luau in Hawaii. He did however say as well that there was a good number that spoke English taught by Dutch and British missionaries before the war.
There is also documentation that the islanders would help with smaller jobs such as moving, loading, and unloading cargo and providing information about some of the surrounding geography. There is an article concerning the Montana National Guard's interaction with the Papuans, though I unfortunately can't link it to you since it is through JSTOR.
I'm not as well-armed to speak about the Japanese in this manner, but I can say (returning to the tourism point) that Americans treated the islanders with friendliness enough, but not as full allies or citizens. They were by and large second class citizens that America was freeing from Japanese indoctrination and guiding them to self-determination as a "big-brother" might guide a "child." In my thesis I argue that this stems from a tradition following American involvement in the Philippines in the Spanish American War.
Pacific Islanders played a part in "Coast Watching" in that part of the Pacific which New Zealand was concerned with . "Coast Watching" consisted of individuals stationed on pacific islands where they might monitor enemy shipping movements and report back to, in the case of New Zealand, Wellington on those movements. Most people involved were New Zealanders but some local, native, Pacific Islanders were recruited as well.
Some more information here along with references to local participantion :
The Australians had a similar operation dealing with their Northern coast and although that area doesn't come under "Pacific Islands" it is interesting how the indigenous peoples of Northern Australia were involved in that effort. I'm afraid I can't find a reference for that at the moment but there's some general information about how the Australian operation worked here :