Larry Lawson was born in Nebraska, probably near Eddyville. He joined the Army Air Force and served as a pilot in the Aleutians and South Pacific. He was married to Jeanne Bate in the 1940s and divorced in the early 1950s. He had one child – Pamela Lawson Finley. He was a high school English teacher in Richmond, California, for years. He led the first teachers’ strike in California (1966?). He died, and is buried, in Evergreen Cemetery in Juneau, Alaska.

He was a bomber pilot in the Aleutians. He loved the weather because (he said) he didn’t have to worry about dust allergies.

Larry wrote an Aleutians manuscript in the 6-9 months before Catch 22 was published. It had the same (sardonic, war is absurd) slant as Catch 22, so he stuck it in a drawer as soon as he read Catch 22. Later (early 1970s) during the Vietnam War, he took it out and reworked it into the Flag Bearer.