During World War Two, the war in the Pacific brought upheaval to many previously isolated societies. Island peoples who had previously been shielded from outside influences were overwhelmed by the Allied effort to wage war on the Imperial Japanese Army. Traditional cultures where indelibly changed by exposure to modern warfare. Sadly, rich cultural histories were nearly erased in the effort to win the war. Nowhere was this more true than in the densely jungled island of New Guinea.

The indigenous people of New Guinea lived a simple life without previous contact with Europeans or modern technology. Imagine their surprise when strange, pale people flew out of the sky in large transport airplanes and unloaded jeeps, radios and canned food. Wishing to curry the favor of the local population, the Allies generously shared food and medicine with the astonished tribesmen. Soon, traditional values were trampled as the flow of gifts made a major impact on previously pristine societies, and a form of dependence upon the cargo flights of supplies emerged. The local people had come to expect and demand that gifts descend from the heavens in DC-3s.

When the war ended, the Allies deserted their most isolated bases in New Guinea and, without a second thought, abandoned the local population. The flow of cargo into the jungle was abruptly halted.

A few years after the end of the war, naturalists and sociologists returned to New Guinea to re-establish contact with the native people. What they discovered was that the local people had built crude models of airplanes hoping to lure the cargo flights back to the jungle. Labeled "The Cargo Cults," these tribes were vainly hoping for the return of easy prosperity, free gifts, manna from heaven.

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