Frederick Stanley Milner was born on 26 March 1916 in Aston, Warwickshire. He attended the Duke of York's Royal Military School from 1920 – 1934. On leaving school at 18, Milner joined the 2nd Battalion the Wiltshire Regiment as a soldier, with whom he served in Palestine during the Arab Revolt (1936-7). In 1939, Milner's battalion deployed as part of the British Expeditionary Force to France, returning to the UK via Boulogne (not Dunkirk) in 1940.

Milner was then selected for officer training and attended an Officer Cadet Training Unit, having completed his training in the UK he was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Dorset Regiment on 21 December 1940. However, he never joined his regiment as he was talent-spotted by the SOE and recruited as an instructor at the organisation's various Special Training Schools (STS).

He was initially posted to the STS at Winterfold House in Cranleigh, Surrey (STS 4). Unfortunately, while instructing at STS 4 in 1941, Milner was injured when a grenade splinter lodged in his neck. The Royal Surrey Hospital returned him to duty without removing it! He was then posted to SOE training in Canada on 21 November 1941. He arrived at Camp X in Whitby, Ontario (STS 103) as an explosives and demolition instructor. Unfortunately, Milner suffered another training mishap, suffering second degree burns when a 'Silent Soldier' grenade thrower he was demonstrating spontaneously ignited.

Milner then deployed to North Africa and Corsica during 1943; where he 'worked well with Americans', clearly a unique skill set. Milner was then posted to India where he joined the Burma Country Section of Force 136 (Group A). Force 136 was the SOE organisation established to encourage and support indigenous resistance movements in enemy-occupied territory, and occasionally mount clandestine sabotage operations. Force 136 operated in the regions of the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II which were occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945; i.e. Burma, Malaya, China, Sumatra, Siam, and French Indo-China.

On 26 March 1945, Milner was dropped by parachute into Burma on Operation Character where he was in charge of field station Mongoose, in operations area White. His actions on this operation earned him two recommendations for the Military Cross twice, the second time for immediate award. This was for his work during battles in July-August 1945, when the Karen tribal guerrillas his was working with inflicted an estimated 300 casualties upon the Japanese, who were trying to cross a river (the Shwegyin Chaung). He was described as 'A brilliant and fearless leader' who was respected by 'all the Karens.' He was awarded the Military Cross on 7 November 1946.

In 1946, Force 136 was wound up, along with the rest of SOE. Milner served on after the war and retired as an honorary major on 14 February 1949. Details of his life after wartime service have been hard to come by. He died on 7 October 1962 in Middlesex and was buried in Greenwich.

His Personnel File can be found at the National Archives under this reference: HS 9/1038/6