Loyal Gunners uniquely encapsulates the experience of Canadian militia gunners and their units into a single compelling narrative that centres on the artillery units of New Brunswick. The story of those units is a profoundly Canadian story: one of dedication and sacrifice in service of great guns and of Canada.
The 3rd Field Regiment (The Loyal Company), Royal Canadian Artillery, is Canada’s oldest artillery unit, dating to the founding of the Loyal Company in Saint John in 1793. Since its centennial in 1893, 3rd Field—in various permutations of medium, coastal, and anti-aircraft artillery—has formed the core of New Brunswick’s militia artillery, and it has endured into the twenty-first century as the last remaining artillery unit in the province.
This book is the first modern assessment of the development of Canadian heavy artillery in the Great War, the first look at the development of artillery in general in both world wars, and the first exploration of the development and operational deployment of anti-tank artillery in the Second World War. It also tells a universal story of survival as it chronicles the fortunes of New Brunswick militia units through the darkest days of the Cold War, when conventional armed forces were entirely out of favour. In 1950 New Brunswick had four and a half regiments of artillery; by 1970 it had one—3rd Field.
Loyal Gunners traces the rise and fall of artillery batteries in New Brunswick as the nature of modern war evolved. From the Great War to Afghanistan it provides the most comprehensive account to date of Canada’s gunners.

Lee Windsor is Deputy Director of The Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick. His research interests focus on the 1953-1945 Italian campaign. Windsor served in the Canadian Forces Reserve for nine years with the Hussars and the West Nova Scotia Regiment. He was one of the principal authors of Kandahar Tour: Turning Point in Canada's Afghan Mission.

Lee Windsor's profile page

Marc Milner is Director of the Brigadier Milton F. Gregg, V.C., Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick. A native of Sackville, N.B., Dr. Milner earned his doctorate at the University of New Brunswick in 1983. From 1983 to 1986, Dr. Milner was a historian with the Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, Ottawa, where he wrote portions of the R.C.A.F.'s official history and the first narrative of the recent official history of the Royal Canadian Navy. He joined the History Department at U.N.B. in 1986. Since then, he has served as director of U.N.B.'s Military and Strategic Studies Programme and chair of its History Department for six years. Dr. Milner is best known for his work on naval history, including North Atlantic Run: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle for the Convoys (1985); The U-Boat Hunters: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Offensive against Germany's Submarines (1995); Corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy (co-authored with Ken Macpherson, 1993); a novel, Incident at North Point (1998); a popular history, HMCS Sackville 1940-1985 (1998, for the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust); Battle of the Atlantic (2003), which won the Charles P. Stacey Prize for the best book on military history in Canada for 2003-04; and Canada's Navy: The First Century (1999). Dr. Milner writes a regular column on Canadian naval history for Legion Magazine, and the second (updated) edition of Canada's Navy: The First Century was published just in time for the naval centennial.

Marc Milner's profile page

Roger Sarty, history professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, was in previous careers senior historian at the Department of National Defence and deputy director at the Canadian War Museum. His other books on the Canadian Army in the Maritimes include Saint John Fortifications (2003, with Doug Knight) and Guardian of the Gulf: Sydney Cape Breton and the Atlantic Wars (2012, with Brian Tennyson)./p>

Roger Sarty's profile page

This book is the only provincial study of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery. It traces the general evolution of the permanent and reserve elements of the army from the 1890s to the conflict in Afghanistan. The greatest contribution of this work is its discussion of the formation of the Canadian Corps artillery in 1915–1916, coastal defence between 1939 and 1945, and in particular, the detailed discussion of events after 1945, including the Cold War, the Balkans, and Afghanistan

John Grodzinski, Royal Military College of Canada

The 3rd Field Regiment, (The Loyal Company) of New Brunswick is Canada’s oldest serving artillery unit. Its members have served with distinction at home and abroad from the US border and Saint John Harbour to Vimy and Kandahar, everywhere and anytime called upon, for over 220 years. We are proud to tell our story

John K.F. Irving, Honorary Colonel, 2010–2018, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment (The Loyal Company), Royal Canadian Artillery

In taking up the story of the “Loyal Gunners” where Captain John Baxter left it in 1893, and bringing it all the way to 2013, the Loyal Company Association and the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick have made an exceptionally valuable contribution to the preservation and interpretation of the noble record of service of not only New Brunswick Gunners, but of the Royal Regiment as a whole

Brigadier-General James J. Selbie, O.M.M., C.D. (ret’d), Colonel Commandant, The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery

"A singularly well researched, written, organized and presented military history, ... Loyal Gunners is unreservedly recommended for community and academic library Canadian Military History collections."

Midwest Book Review