War hero’s family gets house

A house built for a family of a war hero who made the supreme sacrifice for the motherland was handed over to them by the All Ceylon women’s Buddhist congress recently.

Gemunu Regiment Lance Corporal Manoj Kumara, lay down his life for the country four days before victory.

His patriotism is recorded for all time in the last letter he wrote to his family “in a few days this land will be a fully independent country. The lives that were lost in this struggle ensure that this murderous terrorists will never have an opportunity in our motherland.” Manoj never lived to see that day.

He came from a poverty stricken home in Ratgama. But he was not job-hunting when he joined the Army in 2007.

He gave his best and was promoted as an N.C.O. His ambition was to build a home for his widowed mother and family.

This hope has been achieved thanks to the generosity of the ladies of the All Ceylon Women’s Buddhist Congress.

When the media highlighted the plight of this hero and the family who were squatters in a ramshackle hut in the Ratgama public cemetery, Nayagoda it caught the eye of ACWBC President Chitra Dias who commenced a program to help this family.