American soldiers arrive at a beachside New Guinean village near Christmastime during World War II

American soldiers carefully step onto a catamaran from the starboard side of a crowded schooner / catamarans with New Guinean natives and Americans moving to shore from a lagoon ringed by palm trees / lines of natives wearing loincloths / VS soldiers step from small boats onto sandy shore and natives assist men from catamarans / VS natives carry wooden crates to shore with piles of the boxes on a palm shaded beachside area / native men and women stand around a pile of bananas and cocoanuts / VS a native longhaired villager talks to a row of his fellows as an officer on porch at left looks on