We won the war because we are the good guy's and know how things should work. But we are also nice guys and intend to raise the Okinawans in the American tradition. This starts with building a pentagon shaped schoolhouse. Captain Fisby (Glenn Ford) is sent there because he is so good at everything he does that the command is willing to let someone else have him (anyone else). With the influence of the local natives including Sakini (Marlon Brando) he is persuaded that they need to build their economy first.
Everyone seems to have gone somewhere from here. Eddie Albert must have used this picture to audition for "Green Acres." Paul Ford as Col. Wainwright Purdy III plays a similar character in "The Music Man" (1962) and Marlon Brando goes back to Asia in the other side in "Apocalypse Now" (1979). Harry Morgan is still in military garb in "What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?" (1966).