YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — The Republic of Korea Samoa Association showcased its Pacific island lifestyle during a celebration Saturday in Yongsan Garrison’s main post club.

The event was an official end to Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, Maj. Tauapai Laupola, event master of ceremonies said.

But association president Command Sgt. Maj. Tui Nua said it also was dedicated to the troops fighting the war on terrorism this Memorial Day weekend.

Nua told Stars and Stripes that the association was formed not quite a year ago “to showcase our culture” and to help keep younger soldiers out of trouble.

He remembers arriving at his first duty station 28 years ago and how tough it was getting used to two new cultures: the U.S. Army and America. It was too easy, he said, just to follow the crowd.

“There was nobody there to help me out,” he said. He added that he spent a good chunk of his career learning to assimilate.

And last year, when too many younger soldiers were drinking and driving or getting in trouble in South Korea, the idea of creating ROKSA surfaced.

“We saw the need to support the community,” he said. “And we wanted to give our younger soldiers — off-island and away from home for the first time — a sense of home.”

Their lively performances, featuring traditional dances, chants and songs, are entertaining during heritage month celebrations, Nua said. But ROKSA also works to educate, “to remind,” the soldiers, how they should act while away from home. “Samoans are very family oriented,” Nua said.

Civilian employee Gregory Moore said the sense of family is one of the reasons he attended Saturday’s event.

“I have a long-time affiliation with the Samoan community,” he said. He’s had Samoan friends in the States and lived with a couple of Samoan families in Germany.

He said he thought the association gave those away from home a “sense of cohesiveness”

Private 1st Class Paoa Fua, 20, joined the group shortly after arriving in South Korea, his first duty assignment. Born in Samoa, but raised in Los Angeles, Fua was worried about losing his sense of culture. “It makes me feel like I’m at home,” he said.

Organization members ended their portion of the entertainment by honoring the Samoans who have been killed in the war on terrorism. They asked any Area I soldier in the crowd to join them on stage, while they sang a Samoan song and held up large signs with the names of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.