Brooklyn-born Joseph Heller joined the US Army Air Forces in 1942, at the age of 19. By 1944 he was stationed in the Italian theatre with the 488th Bomb Squadron, part of the 340th Bomb Group, as a B-25 Mitchell bombardier, flying some 60 missions before the war ended. Returning to the United States, Heller became a writer, and in 1953 began what would become his defining literary work, Catch-22. First published in 1961, this antiwar satire still ranks as a classic. The story was, to a great extent, autobiographical - set mainly in the Mediterranean during World War Two, it follows Capt John Yossarian, a B-25 bombardier, as he and his fellow servicemen grapple with the absurdity, insanity and hypocrisy of war. The fascinatingly original, non-standard narrative caught the imagination of readers and the novel became a best-seller, especially among the younger generation for its anti-war sentiments, connecting with them on how they felt about the complexities of the worsening conflict in Vietnam.
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