 Groberg served briefly in Los Angeles, Samoa, and Fiji while waiting for his transport to be finalized.When he finally arrived in Tonga, his first assignment was on the remote island of Niuatoputapu, which had had only limited contact with the outside world in the form of an occasional telegraph and a visiting boat.During the year he spent on the island, Groberg suffered from mosquitoes, a typhoon, and starvation.