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Lieutenant Colonel Daya Bertram Rajasinghe died on 18th May 2003 from natural causes.

Lieutenant Colonel D. B. Rajasinghe was born on 26th May, 1948 in Colombo and was the eldest son of late Major N. Nadarajasingham of SLAC (retired in 1969). He received his education upto the G.C.E. (A/L) at Ananda College, Colombo 10, from, 1953 to 1968. Ananda College won the "Herman Loose" award when he was the Cadet Sergeant. He was a member of the College Basketball Team. Being an active member of the College Rifle Club, he started his competitive shooting career as a school boy under the guidance of his father late Major N. Nadarajasingham and was selected to represent the country in shooting while he was still a school boy in 1968.

With the nobel desire to serve the country and the people, he opted to join the Army as an Officer Cadet in the Regular Force on 16th April 2003 and having followed the Officer Cadet Course - Intake No. 1 at the Army Training Centre, Diyatalawa, he was commissioned as a 2/Lieutenant and posted to the Ceylon Army Service Corps with effect from 10th August 1969. He was promoted to the ranks of Lieutenant, Captain and Major with effect from 10.02.1971, 10.02.1974 and 01.06.1979 respectively and held under mentioned appointments:-

* Adjutant of Ceylon Army Service Corps

* Officer Commanding, Ceylon Army Service Corps Squadron Jaffna

* Officer Commanding 1st Motor Transport Squadron, National Transport Unit

* Officer Commanding, Headquarters Squadron, National Transport Unit During his career in the Regular Force of the Army, he underwent following courses of training:-

* Junior ASC Officers Course in Berelly, India

* Senior Tactics and Staff Course at Officers Training School, Diyatalawa Due to adverse medical condition Lieutenant Colonel D. B. Rajasinghe retired prematurely from the Regular Force with effect from 13th November 1980 in the rank of Major.

On recovery from his medical condition, he joined the Royal Oman Police in 1981 and later joined the Royal Oman Special Task Force where he was offered a Sniper Course in the United Kingdom.

He returned to Sri Lanka in 1987 and rejoined the Army as a Major of the 5th Regiment Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment and was appointed the Commandant of NAR Camp, Mahiyangana. He later served as the Commanding Officer of Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force Training Centre, Diyatalawa from 2nd February 1988 to 12 December 1988.

On the request of the then Commander of the Army, Major General H. Wanasinghe, Major D. B. Rajasinghe left aside the lucrative offer made by his overseas employer and took up the challenge of raising the Marksmanship and Sniper Training. School at Diyatalawa in the best interest of the Army and the country. The establishment of a training institute of this nature was for the first time in the Army and the training of the snipers and professional marksmen was the need of the hour during the tense security situation prevalent at that time was taken over by him. Being the founder of this institution, he not only laid foundations for all courses that are now being conducted at the MSTS, but also led the first batch of snipers in operations where the performance of such snipers contributed immensely to the success of those operations. Simultaneously, he was also able to raise the Sports Shooting standards in the Army to a very high level and brought immense credit to the Army by engineering wins in National competitions that were previously lost. In appreciation of his service he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

In 1991, on an invitation of the Kingdom of Oman, he joined the Royal Oman Army Marksmanship Unit as the National Coach to train the Oman Olympic Shooting team. After the coaching stint in the Kingdom of Oman, he returned to Sri Lanka in 1995. He was appointed the Commandant of the Rantambe Cader Corps Camp during the period 1995 and 1996.

In consideration of the grave security situation prevalent during that time he decided to join the Army yet again as a Consultant to the Commander of the Army and was posted as a Consultant to the MSTS. With the knowledge that was acquired overseas he was able to further raise the standard of the training at MSTS.

Meanwhile, he felt the requirement of having a home for the snipers and with a great personal perseverance found the place he was looking for and established MSTS at its permanent location and completed the first phase of its constructions. He was also capable of uplifting the standards of the Olympic Shooting in the Army as well as the country by being the National Coach for Shooting.

His duty was not entirely restricted to training but also actively contributed his personal efforts in many major military operations, which was laudable. His concept for winning a war was nothing but the expertise of marksmanship of the individual infantry soldier, for which he was fully dedicated and visited operational areas and began training infantrymen. With the blessings of the Amy HQ, he launched a marksmanship package for infantry battalions in order to groom the soldiers as effective marksmen in the field by the end of this year.

His expert advice was sought to enhance the personal security of the then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, who was under imminent life threat, which Lieutenant Colonel D. B. Rajasinghe performed to the highest expected level as an honourable service to the nation.

Lieutenant Colonel Rajasinghe was awarded the under mentioned medals for the distinguished service he rendered the Sri Lanka Army:-

* The Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Services Medal

* The President's Inauguration Medal

* Sri Lanka Armed Services Long Service Medal

Sports Achievements of Lieutenant Colonel D. B. Rajasinghe

Lieutenant Colonel Rajasinghe was an exemplary sportsman, who excelled in the field of shooting since his boyhood. He made records tumble one after the other in the sphere of shooting, which are too numerous to mention here. a few outstanding achievements are indicated below.

* His major exposure to the shooting arena was when he took part as a Schoolboy at a National meet in China Bay, where he was only second to Ravi Jayewardene, but was able to beat the British Olympian who was placed third.

* Represented Sri Lanka at SAF Shooting Championships in 1992 & 2000 held in Sri Lanka & Pakistan respectively.

* Represented Sri Lanka at SAF Games in 1991, 1993, 1995 & 1999 held in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India & Nepal respectively and won many medals for his motherland.

* Represented Sri Lanka at Asian Shooting Championships in 1992 and 1986 respectively.

* Represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Games in 1970, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1994 & 1998 held in Bangkok, Teheran, New Delhi, Seoul, Japan & Thailand respectively.

* Represented Sri Lanka at Commonwealth Shooting Championships in 1995, 1998 & 1999 held in New Delhi, Malaysia & New Zealand respectively. At the New Delhi Competition he shot a new Sri Lanka Record collecting 595/600 points and won Silver Medal. (Existing Sri Lanka Record)

* Represented Sri Lanka at the Military World Championship in 1993 held in Norway.

* Represented Sri Lanka at World Cups held in 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 held in Seoul, Switzerland, Barcelona, China, Japan, Cuba, Germany, Italy, Atlanta and Barcelona respectively.

* Represented Sri Lanka at the Olympic Games in 1972 & 1988 held in Munich & Seoul.

* Shot a record of 1135 out of 1200 points in the 3 X Position Rifle Event at the Asian Shooting Championship in China. (Existing Sri Lanka Record)

In addition to being a shooting competitor, he also gained noteworthy results as a National Coach of Sri Lanka by producing medal-winning shooters. Some of his coaching achievements are enumerated below.

Coaching Courses Followed

* 25th Aug. to 18th Sept. 1990 - coaching camp on UIT Rifle and Pistol by the Russian coach Sergie Dovgel.

* 16 - Aug. to 12th Sept. 1991 - Diploma in UIT Rifle and pistol in Moscow, USSR.

* 2nd Nov. to 11th Nov. 1992 - Military sport council in USA

* 05th July to 15th July 1999 Diploma Olympic Solidarity Course on Coaching Skills of ISSF Pistol.

National Coach

* Was appointed the National Director Sri Lanka by the International Shooting Coaches Association of USA in 1992 and held this appointment until 2000.

* Was appointed the National Coach of Sri Lanka by the National Rifle Association for more than ten years.

* As a Coach of the National Shooting Team he took his team to win one Gold Medal and one Silver Medal at the Commonwealth Games 1994 held in Canada. This was the only Gold Medal Sri Lanka could bag upto date in the Commonwealth Games and that was since late Mr. Duncan White who won a medal in Athletics.

* He was also the Coach of the National Teams of Shooting Competitions in the Olympic Games in 1992, 1996 & 2000 held in Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney respectively.

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