Winking at Death

About the Book

Merritt Eugene Lawlis (Gene, as he is known to family and friends) was a prisoner of the Japanese toward the end of World War II on Hainan Island, China. He and two others from a crew of five were shot down in their B-25 and captured by the Japanese. After five months of near starvation and frequent beatings, they were saved by the dropping of the two atomic bombs. Yet why they survived (and not others) has haunted Gene ever since.

About the Author

Gene Lawlis was born in 1918 and grew up in Indiana. He  graduated from Wabash College and then traveled to Arizona, where he worked for several months as an assistant embalmer and then as a journalist. When the U.S. joined the war effort in 1941, he enlisted in what was then called the Air Corps. After teaching navigation for about three years, he served as a navigator. His B-25 was shot down on his third mission, and he became a POW of the Japanese for about five months, on Hainan Island, China.

Gene married Naomi Abel just after the war, earned a Ph.D. from Harvard, and taught English and Comparative Literature at Indiana University for 32 years. He has three children, nine grandchildren, and one great-grandson.  At the ripe old age of 90, those few months on Hainan Island continue to impact him: 63 years later, every moment is precious, and he is happy to be alive.