Jaxws handler init method is not called

Hi,

I'm using CXF 2.6.6 JAX-WS front. I have a simple JAX-WS service and a JAX-WS handler, which is hooked with the service via the @HandlerChain. The classes is package into a war with cxf-servlet.xml defining the JAX-WS service endpoint w/o defining the handler. When the war is deployed into Tomcat 7.0.19, the handler default constructor is called, but not the init() method. Is @PostConstruct on init() required in CXF? Appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Gang