<p>In 1961 the British army struggled with volunteer recruitment after the abolition of<br />
National Service. Recruiting teams were sent to three remaining colonies and found an<br />
excellent source of volunteers in Fiji. Two hundred men and twelve women from across<br />
Fiji’s racial divide enlisted and subsequently served with distinction throughout 'the fringes<br />
of empire', bolstering NATO, in Northern Ireland and the Falklands conflict.</p><p>About a third of the men served for 22 years or more, marrying British and other nationals<br />
and many chose not to return to Fiji. Some of those who returned played significant roles in<br />
the 1987 election with a few supporting subsequent military interventions.</p><p><br />
The author interviewed the surviving ‘212’ wherever they settled. Brigadier Ian Thorpe, the<br />
last New Zealander to command the Royal Fiji Military Forces, first served with Fijians<br />
in the Malayan Emergency and later established an officer training school for the RFMF,<br />
provided the foreword.</p>
