Captain Gerald W. Butler, of the Massachusetts State Guard, is the former curator of Fort Warren and Fort Independence, Boston Harbor, and Fort Rodman, New Bedford, Massachusetts. He has published six books and numerous periodicals on seacoast fortifications and served as a military consultant to military museums and state parks. He was the former historian for United States Navy mine warfare units in New England, and his illustrations of seacoast weaponry and fortifications are published worldwide. He served in the elite United States Regular Army's Intelligence Security Agency's Special Operations Unit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Shemya Island, Alaska.