Ex-PFC Wintergreen

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Ex-Private First Class Wintergreen is a character from Joseph Heller's classic novel, Catch-22.

He is an "ex-P.F.C." because of his constant urge to go AWOL, at one point reaching the rank of ex-sergeant, he has hopes of one day attaining the rank of ex-General. Ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen wields a great deal of power in the novel, being responsible for mail distribution. By forging documents and destroying mail, he becomes more powerful than the generals:

Wintergreen determined the outcome by throwing all communications from General Peckem into the waste-basket. He found them too prolix...General Dreedle was victorious by default.

He also competes with Milo's syndicate by selling, among other supplies, stolen Zippo lighters for a penny less. Milo and Wintergreen form a partnership at the end of the book.

In the so-called sequel to Catch-22, Closing Time, Wintergreen is a major character, and it is revealed that his name is Eugene, called Gene for short. This is in keeping with Heller's penchant for rhyming and alliterative names.

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Catch-22
Catch-22 | sequel Closing Time | author Joseph Heller | Catch-22 (film) | Catch-22 (logic)
Named Characters
Yossarian | Aarfy | Appleby | Captain Black | The Chaplain | Colonel Cargill | Colonel Cathcart | Clevinger | Nurse Cramer | Major Danby | Doc Daneeka | Mrs. Daneeka | Major —— de Coverley | General Dreedle | Dobbs | Nurse Duckett | Dunbar | Dori Duz | Lieutenant Engle | Captain Flume | Gus & Wes | Havermeyer | Huple | Hungry Joe | Kid Sampson | Sergeant Knight | Corporal Kolodny | Colonel Korn | Kraft | Luciana | Major Major Major Major | McWatt | Michaela | Milo Minderbinder | Colonel Moodus | Mudd (aka the Dead Man in Yossarian's tent) | Nately | Orr | General Peckem | Piltchard & Wren | Major Sanderson | Lieutenant/General Scheisskopf | Mrs Scheisskopf | Corporal Snark | Snowden | The Soldier Who Sees Everything Twice (aka Giuseppe) | Dr. Stubbs | The Texan | Sergeant Towser | Lieutenant Travers | Corporal Whitcomb | Chief White Halfoat | ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen
Unnamed Characters
The C.I.D. Investigators | Dreedle's girl | The Maid with the lime-colored panties | Nately's Whore | Nately's Whore's Kid Sister | The Old Woman in Rome | The Old Man in Rome | The Soldier in white | Yo-Yo's Roomies |The small tail gunner who kept fainting (Later named Sammy Singer in the sequel to Catch-22, Closing Time)
Important Locations
Pianosa | Rome | Ferrera | Bologna