Lieutenant Nately

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Lieutenant Nately is a fictional character in the 1961 World War II novel Catch-22, written by Joseph Heller.

He starts off the book as a nineteen-year-old lieutenant, who will be "twenty next January" who came from a very rich and respected family. His family originally enlisted him to serve in the Air Corps, believing the war would be over by the time he finished his training and that he would mingle with "gentlemen". Therefore, Nately could gain the pride of enlisting without actually having to fight. Instead, he mingled with Yossarian and Dunbar, and was sent overseas.

His most notable contribution to the book is his involvement with a whore, who is for the most part uninterested in him until he gave her some time to sleep. He is often filled with American optimism, shown by his desire to marry his whore and send her kid sister to a respected U.S. college. However, he is killed when Milo bombs their base (under contract to the Germans). His girlfriend blames Yossarian and she spends the rest of the book trying to murder him.

In a chapter later deleted from Catch-22 entitled 'Love, Dad' we find that Nately's full name is Edward J. Nately III.

Art Garfunkel portrayed Nately in the 1970 film adaptation of the novel directed by Mike Nichols.