Air Force honours war heroes' mothers

The Sri Lanka Air Force Seva Vanitha Unit (SLAF SVU) held a welfare programme for the war heroes, serving Air Force personnel and the civil society by making donations of Rs. 3 million at a ceremony held yesterday at Sri Lanka Air Force Auditorium.

This event was organised under the guidance of chairperson of the SLAF SVU, Nelun Goonetileke. Air Force Commander Air Marshal Roshan Goonetileke as the chief guest. The Air Force Commander felicitated six mothers of valiant men, who were reported missing in action, by awarding them the "Weeramatha Padakkama". This was also to commemorate "International Mothers' Day" which falls on May 13.

Air Marshal Roshan Goonetileke also awarded a medal and a monetary gift to Miss Amali Upeksha Jayasinghe for her outstanding performance in studies. Amali, the eldest daughter of Group Captain Ravi Jayasinghe and Sandya Jayasinghe became 1st out of nearly 510,000 students who sat the G.C.E. (Ordinary Level) Examination in December 2007.

Five Children of war heroes were awarded scholarships from the Marian Goonetileke Scholarship fund on this occasion. This fund provides educational scholarships for children in the O/L and A/L classes who belong to families of war heroes and also to children of needy civilians serving in the Air Force.

Housing Loans worth Rs. 1.6 million were awarded from the Anula Fernando Project to families of fallen heroes and 16 wheelchairs were also donated to war heroes of the Sri Lanka Air Force. SLAF Poowarasankulam, one of the three Special Operations Groups of the SLAF which are performing a ground combat role in support of the Army was also a recipient of the Seva Vanitha Unit's welfare scheme.