Joseph Marc Milner, (born 12 April 1954) is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
military and naval historian, author of several books including one novel. He is Director of the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the
University of New Brunswick
The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Ameri ...
.
Early life and education
The son of William Clayton Milner and Rita Mary Legere Milner, he was born and raised in
Sackville, New Brunswick, and attended
Tantramar Regional High School
Tantramar Regional High School, is a Canadian secondary school located in Sackville, New Brunswick. It is home to the Tantramar Wetlands Centre, a program that aims to provide outdoor education for students. The Tantramar Wetlands Centre was f ...
from which he graduated in 1973. Going on to university, he graduated from the
University of New Brunswick
The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Ameri ...
with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree in 1977, and from the same university earned his
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
degree in 1979 with a thesis on "Canadian escorts and the mid Atlantic 1942–1943". He earned his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
there in 1983, completing a doctoral dissertation titled "No higher purpose: the Royal Canadian Navy's mid-Atlantic war 1939–1944".
Career
Upon completion of his PhD, Milner began his professional career in 1983 as an historian in the
Directorate of History, National Defense Headquarters, where he served until 1986, when the University of New Brunswick appointed him an
assistant professor
Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree
A docto ...
of history and director of its military and strategic studies program. Rising to full professor, he became chairman of the history department, 2002–2010, and since 2006 Director of the university's Brigadier
Milton Fowler Gregg
Brigadier Milton Fowler Gregg, (10 April 1892 – 13 March 1978) was a The Royal Canadian Regiment, Canadian military officer and a First World War recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that ...
, VC, Centre for the Study of War and Society.
He was the recipient of the
C.P. Stacey Prize The C.P. Stacey Prize (also known as the ''C.P. Stacey Award'') is given by the C.P. Stacey Award Committee and the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies (the LCMSDS took over administration of the award in 2018 from the Cana ...
in 2004 for his book ''Battle of the Atlantic''.
Milner is fond of sailing, has cruised various Atlantic Canadian shorelines in his 16-foot daysailer, and spent time "before the mast" on the tall ship
HMS ''Rose'' between Boston and Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is married and has two children.
Publications
;Author
*''Canadian Naval Force Requirements in the Second World War'' (1981).
*''North Atlantic Run: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle for the Convoys'' (1985, 2005))
*''The U-Boat Hunters: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Offensive Against Germany's Submarines, 1943–1945'', US Naval Institute Press (November 1994)
*''HMCS Sackville, 1941–1985'', Canadian Naval Memorial Trust (1998)
*''Canada's Navy : The First Century'', University of Toronto Press (1999, 2010, 2017)
*''Incident at North Point'', Vanwell Publishing Ltd (April 17, 2003) (novel)
*''Battle of the Atlantic'', Tempus Publishing Ltd (September 2005)
*''D-Day to Carpiquet: The North Shore Regiment and the Liberation of Europe'', Goose Lane Editions & New Brunswick Military Heritage Project (New Brunswick Military Heritage Series) (May 2007)
*''New Brunswick and the Navy: Four Hundred Years'' (2010)
*''Stopping the Panzers: The Untold Story of D-Day''. (Modern War Studies.) Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2014
;With Robert Power:
*''Survey of Historical Resources in
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
(1979).
;With Ken MacPherson:
*''Corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy: 1939–1945.'' Vanwell Pub Ltd. (Feb 28 1994)
;With D. Charters and B. Wilson:
*''Defence Policy for a New Century: The UNB Workshop on the Defence Policy Review (1994)
*''Military History and the Military Profession'' (1992)
;With Lee Windsor and Roger Sarty
*''Loyal Gunners: 3rd Field Artillery Regiment (The Loyal Company) and the History of New Brunswick's Artillery, 1893-2012.'' Wilfrid Laurier University Press (2016)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milner, Marc
1954 births
Historians of World War II
Canadian military historians
University of New Brunswick alumni
University of New Brunswick faculty
Canadian naval historians
Canadian male non-fiction writers
Living people
People from Sackville, New Brunswick