"It's a strange thing when you go to war: You somehow never expect to be taken prisoner. You figure (academically, of course) that you might be killed - that's always something to be considered with something of a thrill (even though you really don't believe it). You might be wounded. Or you could come out a hero. But taken prisoner? That's a role few men picture for themselves. Of course we had lectures on the subject of how to conduct ourselves if we fell into enemy hands. And we listened respectfully.

But we listened with the same feeling we'd had when our parents told us what would happen if we weren't good. Of course, we were going to be good, so there wasn't any reality in the dire punishment promised. And of course we weren't going to be taken prisoner."

1. So begin the adventures which Eugene E. "E. E." Halmos, Jr. here shares with his readers.