Brigadier T S B Sally
A gentleman par excellence
Brigadier Tuan Samarran Buhary Sally was born on March 18, 1924 in
Kandy and passed away on August 3, 2012.
He is the eldest of four sons and four daughters to Buhary Sally and
Boodie Doole. Brigadier Sally married Dhaleen, daughter of M C S
Mohamed, Chief Inspector of Police and the Vice President of the Colombo
Malay Cricket Club cum the All Ceylon Malay Association, the present Sri
Lanka Malay Association.
Brigadier Sally had his education at five Christian schools in the
English medium. He selected Latin as the second language.
The Soldiers’ Training Camp at Diyatalawa was close to their bungalow
at Haputale, where he was employed as a manager.
Brigadier Sally, a teenager then, was living at his ancestral
residence in Haputale.
There he gathered from the guest soldiers the goodness of their
profession under the British.
He joined the British administered Ceylon Defence Force at 18 in 1942
during the Second World War as a Second Lieutenant.
Assigned to the Ceylon Light Infantry, except for training in mortars
in India, he served throughout in Ceylon until 1946.
On termination of the Second World War in 1946, he was released after
having served as the Commander Specialised in three inches mortar.
Thereafter, to make best use of his training in the Army, he
volunteered to organise and train cadets at Zahira College, Maradana
which he joined in January 1947 and trained the students for seven
months.
He was again commissioned as Lieutenant for services in Malaya and
Singapore with Corps of Military Police in August 1947 to 1949, when a
contingent of 10,000 Royal Corps of Pioneers (Ceylon) was raised here
for duties replacing Japanese prisoners of war to be repatriated home
and promoted as Captain.
He rejoined the Regular Ceylon Army in 1950 as Lieutenant, Infantry.
He later rose to Brigadier rank and was appointed Chief -of -Staff,
Sri Lanka Army. He was appointed Acting Commander of the Army on two
occasions, before retirement in 1979.
- Tuan Fazeer Rawdin |
