Oscar E. Gilbert

Oscar E. "Ed" Gilbert Jr. is a native of Alabama, with B.S. and M.S. degrees in geology from The University of Alabama, and a Ph.D. in geology from The University of Tennessee. He was a Marine Corps artilleryman and NCO instructor in the Marine Corps Reserve. After early work in government service, minerals exploration, and university teaching, Ed retired after twenty-eight years in domestic and international petroleum exploration, primarily in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, southern Asia, and Latin America. Ed was presented the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation's 2016 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award for outstanding non-fiction for "Tanks In Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company On Tarawa". He also holds the non-profit Presidential Service Center's Distinguished Service Medal for "Patriot Militiaman In The American Revolution 1775-82" and "True For The Cause Of Liberty: The Second Spartan Regiment In The American Revolution." As a military historian, Ed has also written for veterans', historical, and hobby magazines, and served as a technical and historical advisor on film and television projects. He has appeared on CNN, and several episodes of the cable television series Greatest Tank Battles. His primary interests are the history of the US Marine Corps, and the state militias in the American War of Independence, the Red Stick War (Creek War of 1813 - 1814), and the War of 1812. The emphasis of his work is on understanding military history from the bottom up, the personal experiences of enlisted men and junior officers too often ignored in history books. Ed and his wife and sometime co-author Catherine divide their time between homes in Katy Texas and in rural Texas.