Robert W. Baumer grew up in rural Connecticut. After graduating from the University of Illinois, he spent 25 years in the computer industry. In the early 1990s, he began writing newspaper and magazine articles about World War II, particularly regarding events related to the 50th Anniversary of Operation Overlord. His father's brother, Private First Class Robert A. Baummer, inspired his interest in the 18th Infantry Regiment of World War II. Pfc. Baummer was killed in action in Normandy on 9 June 1944. His mother, Viola K. Baummer, was president of the Gold Star Mothers in the Naugatuck, Connecticut area, serving until all 92 of that town's World War II dead were brought home for burial.

Bob Baumer knew little about his namesake until his late great aunt, WWII 1st Lieutenant Mark Jane Kamarzel (Army Nurse Corps), brought him to Pfc. Robert A. Baumer's grave in 1992. Here, he began his journey that resulted in the research and writing of American Iliad. Baumer also writes a column for The Armchair General magazine entitled “Tip of the Spear.“

Lieutenant Colonel Mark J. Reardon is a serving US Army officer with extensive experience in a wide variety of tactical assignments in armor and armored cavalry units in Korea, Germany and the United States. Commissioned through the ROTC and a graduate of Loyola College of Baltimore, Maryland, he is presently assigned as Senior Military Historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, D.C.. He has previously written Victory At Mortain: Stopping Hitler’s Panzer Counteroffensive published by the University Press of Kansas in 2002 and voted one of the Top Ten Best Books About World War II on the Stone and Stone annual cyberpoll. Mark has also appeared as a guest commentator on Fox News’ War Stories as well as a History Channel production on the Trojan Wars.

• Foreword by Major General Ben Sternberg, US Army (Retired), Commander of the 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment in combat during World War II.
• Afterword by George Gentry, President of the 18th Infantry Regiment Association and Colonel George Tronsrue, US Army (Retired), Honorary Colonel of the Regiment
• Cover art by acclaimed military artist Don Stivers
• 17 original maps
• 45 photos
• 424 pages; extensive chapter end notes
• Soft Cover, 6" x 9" format
• ISBN 10: 0-9717650-5-7
• ISBN 13: 978-0-9717650-5-4