As all four Maori Battalion companies meet this Easter for their annual reunion, he'll think back to his friend Sonny Baker from Muriwai, who was training troops to throw live grenades when he died.
"One of the guys got the shakes - he pulled the pin but let it drop. Well, you've only got three seconds to explosion - he [Baker] went to grab it. It was such a waste. He didn't deserve that. There was a lot of that. All those lives cut short."
Mr Raihania says he wants younger generations to know that while the battalion fought a world away, the fight was also about putting Maori on an equal footing with Pakeha in their own country.
"We became fully blown New Zealand citizens instead of just Maori from New Zealand."
Historian Monty Soutar has been working since the 1990s on the project, which is based on 400 hours of interviews. The book's name reflects what a different country New Zealand was for Maori at the start of the war, he said.
"There were liquor acts which restricted Maori from taking alcohol away from licensed premises ... There were hotels in Gisborne that just wouldn't accommodate Maori. There's a story when some of the soldiers returned from war they bought a crate of beer, sat on the footpath and drank.
"We asked what was so special about that - the old guy said, `We knew that was the first and last time we'd be able to do that in this country'."
The 28 Battalion forged a formidable fighting reputation but the book goes further and looks at the human toll of war - on Maori at home, over-zealous military tactics, acts of kindness and extremes.
Mr Soutar said Sir Apirana Ngata wanted a book published after the war but his plans were only unearthed in 1994. His son, Sir Henare Ngata, 90, a former Cowboys captain, was captured during the failed campaign in Greece and spent four years in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany.
His father asked families to contribute by passing on soldiers' letters.
"I think my father had decided back in World War I that the coverage of events Maori soldiers were involved in didn't have the same depth or attention as other types had their exploits covered."
Snippets of those 200 letters are a distinguishing feature of the book, Sir Henare said. "There's a freshness in the coverage that you don't get from people that are telling it decades later. More than that, it's a story written by Maori troops overseas straight from the front lines."
COMPANY C FROM THE EAST COAST
A book, Nga Tama Toa: The Price of Citizenship, is being launched on the service of the 28 (Maori) Battalion's C Company.
Nicknamed the "Cowboys", C Company was built from East Coast tribes from Torere around East Cape through Gisborne and over to Muriwai. The membership included Ngai Tai, Te Whanau a Apanui, Ngati Porou, Te Whanau a Hauiti, Rongowhakaata, Te Aitanga a Mahaki and Ngai Tamanuhiri.
1200 Maori from the region served in the battalion. At the time that was 10 per cent of the district's 12,000-odd Maori population.
3600 Maori served in the Maori Battalion's four companies, which were tribally organised.
One company was made up of northern iwi and nicknamed the "Gumdiggers", B Company were the "Penny Divers "from Hauraki, Rotorua and Bay of Plenty, and D Company, "Ngati Walkabout", drew its members from Tainui, Wanganui and the South Island.
BATTALIONS TO RECEIVE BANNERS
All 18 of New Zealand's battalions from World War II are to receive banners recognising their service.
On a red field with silver ferns, the square-shaped flags are identical except for the regiments' names.
Two years ago, 28 (Maori) Battalion asked for a flag and theirs will be the first handed over, at their reunion this weekend.
The Army is organising a ceremony at Defence headquarters in the week before Anzac Day to hand over the rest.
Major Peter Stitt said the Army was appealing to members of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force and Infantry Battalion members from both the 2nd and 3rd Divisions to come forward for the presentation.
After Anzac Day, the banners will be kept at the Waiouru Army Museum.
YOUNG KIWIS YET TO ENLIST IN ANZAC VOLUNTEER FORCE
An Anzac volunteer force setting off to the Dardenelles next month may do so without New Zealand involvement.
For the past two years, young Australians have taken part in a Conservation Volunteers trip to the World War I Turkish battle sites.
This year, the organisation had hoped to bring an Anzac flavour to the mission by including New Zealand volunteers, but so far no young Kiwis have enlisted.
"It is disappointing," said the programme's Australian-based manager, Denise Castro.
"There are a couple of places still available if people get in quick."
The programme fee is expensive - $5755, or $5255 for volunteers under 35 - but the rewards are huge, said Ms Castro, who led the two previous Conservation Volunteer trips.
www.conservationvolunteers.co.nz
