About this item
In May 1943 a self-described "really young, green, ignorant lieutenant" assumed command of a new Marine Corps company. His even younger enlisted Marines were learning to use an untested weapon, the M4A2 "Sherman" medium tank. His sole combat veteran was the company bugler, who had salvaged his dress cap and battered horn from a sinking aircraft carrier. Just six months later the company would be thrown into one of the ghastliest battles of World War II.On 20 November 1943 the Second Marine Division launched the first amphibious assault of the Pacific War, directly into the teeth of powerful Japanese defenses on Tarawa. In that blood-soaked invasion, a single company of Sherman tanks, of which only two survived, played a pivotal role in turning the tide from looming disaster to legendary victory.
About the Author
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.
