ED GILBERT is a native of Alabama, with a lifelong interest in the Creek War. He was a Marine Corps artilleryman, an NCO instructor in the USMCR, a college professor, and for 28 years worked in geological research and oil and gas exploration worldwide. Now semiretired, he works only on special projects. In addition to other volumes for Osprey, Ed is the author of a three-volume series on the history of Marine Corps tank units: Marine Tank Battles in the Pacific; Marine Corps Tank Battles in Korea; and Marine Corps Tank Battles in Vietnam. He is currently at work on a fourth volume covering the involvement of Marine Corps tank units in Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Somalia, as well as a study of the mechanization of the Fleet Marine Force divisions in World War II.