eTeck presents a documentary that showcases Trinidad & Tobago's significant role in World War II
Video from: http://www.viddler.com/
"The American rights to the airfield were obtained via the Destroyers for Bases Agreement in September 1940 when the United States transferred fifty destroyers to Great Britain in exchange for Army and Navy base rights on British possessions in the Americas.
In 1941, Trinidad was alarmed by a large number of Nazi U-Boats prowling of its coastline, intent on disrupting British shipping in the Caribbean Sea, and using the Vichy French controlled island of Martinique as a possible supply facility. Although the first United States Army personnel arrived on Trinidad on 24 April 1941, it was only with the United States' entry into the war in early 1942 that Allied planners decided to counter the Nazi threat by establishing major air and naval facilities on Trinidad.
Waller Army Airfield was activated on 1 September 1941 with the assignment of the 92d Service Group. The unit's mission was to establish a flying facility within the United States Army Fort Read post. The unit consisted of the group's Headquarters, and the 92d Air Base and 309th Material Squadrons. The group was assigned to the Caribbean Air Force.
Waller Field was named after United States Army Air Force Major Alfred J. Waller. Major Waller was a distinguished World War I combat pilot and was killed in an air crash on 11 December 1937 at Langley Field, Virginia. The airfield was intended to have four runways, but the two southern ones were canceled due to the nature of the ground.
Waller was built to be the premier US combat airbase in Trinidad, but events overtook the plan. The South Atlantic Air Route to Europe quickly developed and became the most often used method of getting aircraft to the African and European theaters of war. Air Transport Command flew aircraft to Waller from South Florida airfields, then from Waller, aircraft were flown to Belem Airfield, Brazil, then across the South Atlantic Ocean to Freetown Airport, Sierra Leone and then to North Africa or England. Airfield congestion at Waller became so acute that the combat aircraft, the bombers actually confronting the U-Boats had to be moved out to Edinburgh (Carlsen) Airfield when it was completed.
With the establishment of United States bases on Trinidad and other Caribbean islands, the Nazi menace was eliminated by the action of numerous air and naval patrols. In 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt visited Waller Field on his way to the Casablanca Conference in North Africa."
Source:Wikipedia