Army Commander visits Eastern Brigades and extols sacrifices

The passing out parade of 40th batch of the Special Forces took place on Saturday at Maduruoya Special Forces Training School where Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya was the Chief Guest. Army Commander was received on arrival by the Colonel Commandant of Special Forces Major General Kamal Gunaratne and was accorded a guard turnout.

Later, Lieutenant General Jayasuriya received the Guard of Honour accorded to him by officers and soldiers who passed out on the occasion. The Army Commander awarded the badges to officers and soldiers in the first line and badges awarded to soldiers in other three lines was done by Major General Kamal Gunaratne, Major General Shavendra Silva and Major General S. Udumalagala. Meanwhile Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya after his visit the Brigades in the Eastern Province and met a large section of officers and soldiers on Friday for the first time.

His itinerary started with his visit to the 234 Brigade Headquarters at Kallady where he was received by General Officer Commanding 23 Division Brigadier M.H. Bonifus Perera.

A guard turnout greeted the visiting Army Chief at the entrance to the 234 Brigade Headquarters Complex. Senior officers at the Brigade Headquarters were also introduced to the Commander. Lieutenant General Jayasuriya’s next stop was at 232 Brigade Headquarters at Thoppigala, the famous Baron’s Cap which added a special chapter to the recently concluded humanitarian operations in the East after liberation of famous Mavil Aru anicut. The Army Chief was received on arrival at 232 Brigade Headquarters by acting Commander, 232 Brigade Lieutenant Colonel D.S.T.B. Dissanayake.

The next item on the agenda was the Commander’s address to a cross-section of officers and soldiers serving 231 and 232 Brigades.

The third leg of the day’s program started when the Commander reached 233 Brigade Headquarters at Vakarai where he was welcomed by 233 Brigade Commander Colonel T.D. Weerakoon. Lieutenant General Jayasuriya after inspecting the guard turnout met all officers of the 233 Brigade.

The final leg of the Commander’s day’s itinerary took place at Punani 23 Division Headquarters where he was greeted by Colonel General Staff, 23 Division Colonel C.H.D.P. Chandrasekara and accorded the traditional guard turnout in his honour. Lieutenant General Jayasuriya during his separate interaction with troops at Kallady, Thoppigala, Vakarai and Punani extolled numerous sacrifices made by the War Heroes.