Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is an island located in the Pacific Ocean on Earth. In the year 1943, human troops from the United States of America and Empire of Japan clashed there during World War II.

The Transformers cartoon
In 1985, after one of Starscream's numerous attempts at overthrowing Megatron, he found himself banished from the Decepticons and abandoned on Guadalcanal by Laserbeak. Wandering the island, Starscream discovered several broken-down human military vehicles from the old war, and had the idea of building them into his own troops.