Robert Brown Asprey was born in Sioux City, Iowa (1923 – January 26, 2009) and was an American military historian and author, noted for his books on military history published between 1959 and 2001. Asprey received a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa in 1949, after serving in World War II. He also studied at New College, Oxford, at the University of Vienna, and at the University of Nice. In World War II, Asprey was a member of the secret Marine Beach Jumper Unit, then joined the 5th Marine Division. In the 1950s, he served in U.S. Army Intelligence in Austria before returning to the U.S. Marine Corps in the Korean War with the rank of captain. He received a Purple Heart and a Presidential Unit Citation for his service.