A book which tells the story of a group of Cook Islanders recruited by the New Zealand army in 1966. The Last Army Recruits is the culmination of sporadic research spread over 10 years by first-time author Moana Moekaa and documents the lives of the 30 men who left home to start a career in the New Zealand army.. It was the research, looking for the men, interviewing them in the little time I had with them, sourcing photographs, getting all the little bits and pieces together, checking things, deciding upon the layout, and editing that were the difficult areas. Despite being hamstrung by the lack of money from the time he began his research in 2006 until the book was printed this month, Moekaa says he is satisfied with the final outcome. Its a relatively small book in terms of the number of pages but I wanted it that way with large print and lots of black and white photos. I wanted it designed in a way so that it would appeal to Cook Islanders of all ages from the young right up to the elderly. Unfortunately there are a lot of aspects of our recent history things that have happened over the past 50 to 60 years that are being fast forgotten. I hope that the stories of the recruits will not just be confined to memories.