The book is a major Anzac project edited by Maurie Garland focusing on World War II and all conflicts since.

When the project began 18 months ago, it was decided there would be no lists of names, but they would tell the stories of servicemen and women who had lived in the Manning Valley at some stage of their lives.

"The original project was intended as a single 64-page book, but as the stories came in, we needed to extend and split into two volumes, now totalling 180 pages," said Maurie.

Many of the stories were obtained from letters written by the servicemen to relatives. Some stories were written at some distance after the events. They tell of the life and death in the Boer War; in the trenches of Gallipoli and France during WWI; in the desert of North Africa and the jungles of the Pacific theatre in WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq.

The book is richly illustrated throughout, and photographs were obtained of most of the servicemen and women giving their stories.

The stories were researched and obtained from:

o The archives of the historical society

o Newspapers of the period - Manning River Times, Wingham Chronicle, Northern Champion

o Relatives

o The National Archives of Australia

o The Australia War Memorial.

The project was financially supported by Club Taree and The Wingham Services Club and Wingham RSL Sub Branch.

Copies of 'At the Going Down of the Sun' volume one and two can be purchased from Wingham Museum, priced at $15 each.