Merritt Eugene Lawlis (Gene, as he is known to family and friends) was a prisoner of theJapanese 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 capturedby 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. In Winking at Death he reflects on hisown experiences as a POW, and examines the accounts of other POWs, in anattempt to make sense of what survival means in POW life. In the midst of theall-pervasive fear, for example, he discovers that joy and laughter-howeverfleeting-help POWs to stay alive.
