NZDF confirms medals for 85 Cook Islands WWII veterans after decades of denial

For more than eight decades, the service of over 80 Cook Islanders who served during World War II went untold and unrecognised. Eighty-five veterans who were incorrectly denied their war medals have been confirmed eligible by the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), resulting in an outpouring of pride from their decedents. The discovery was made by researchers working on an online database documenting Cook Islands soldiers. They uncovered errors in official documentation that led to many medals nev