Ex-Service News

Armed Forces Remembrance Day Sri Lanka Ex-Servicemen’s Association President Captain Patrick Jayasinghe, Poppy Committee chairman Major General S G Karunaratne and Media Publicity chairman Brigadier J P A Jayawardena held a media conference at the Media Centre for National Security Auditorium on October 30 to brief the media on the Remembrance Day celebrations. This was attended by representatives of 17 government and private media institutions.

Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebrations on November 11

Armed Forces Remembrance Day commemoration service and parade will be held on November 11 at 9 am. at the War Memorial Vihara Maha Devi Park, Colombo 7.

Sri Lanka Ex-Servicemen’s Association president and members will also hold a reception at the auditorium.

Armour Veterans AGM

The Sri Lanka Army Armour Veterans Association held it’s AGM on October 27 at Rockhouse Camp Mutual. The office – bearers: Patrons : Major General T Paranagama VSV USP, Major Y Balarathnaraja, Vice Patron : Major R M Punchibanda, President : Captain N S Jayawardena, Vice President : Lt Col N P Samarakoon, Secretary : Captain G K Alwis, Assistant Secretary : R A Gunasena and Treasurer K G W Perera.

An executive committee of 11 members were also elected.

SLLI Association invites new entrants

The Sri Lanka Light Infantry Association invited retirees or those who have legally left, the Sri Lanka Army to join the association.

The association has embarked on new projects on a district basis.

Those interested write to the President or Secretary at the following address with a self - addressed envelope affixed with a stamp worth Rs 15. President/Secretary Sri Lanka Light Infantry Association, SLLI Regimental Headquarters, Army Camp, Panagoda, Homagama. Tel: 0113185815, 071 8277927, 077 3826724.

Air Force Ex-Signals hosts Veterans

The Sri Lanka Air Force Ex-Signals Association hosted residents of the Veterans Home Bolagala, Katana on October 28.

The manager of the Home, Peiris welcoming the hosts said there would be a bana in the evening followed by an alms giving in memory of the benefactor of home Bharatha Wickramasinghe. He also thanked the organisers for providing lunch.

A song and dance session preceded the lunch. Music was provided by a Calypso band led by V M P J Fernando.

Among the dancers was a nonagenarian ex-Army Sgt Vincent Jayatillake who was partnered by ex-Airman J Kurumbalapitiya.

Some of the inmates who were in conversation with the hosts, were of high praise of the facilities in the new building which was recently donated by Marty Somasundaram.

Ranjit Perera spoke on behalf of the association and K R S Fernando delivered the vote of thanks. H P P Pathirana spoke on behalf of the inmates also thanked the Director Electronics and Telecommunication for facilitating transport.

Memories that linger ! Soon after he wrote In Flanders Fields, Colonel John Mc Crae sent the poem to England for possible publication. It appeared, without his name, in the December 8, 1915 issue of the Punch magazine. The public response was overwhelming. The poet’s identity was subsequently revealed and his work became known as “the most popular English poem of the great war”. People recited, translated and answered Mc Crae’s poem. In just 15 lines, Mc Crae captured the mood of the times. Poppy flower which was known as “the flower of forgetfulness” untill then was immortalised as “the flower of remembrance”.

In the early morning hours of November11, 1918, the armistice, an agreement to cease hostilities and end the fighting was signed. By the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, after nearly 600 days of agony of the war, the guns were silenced. The flowers did not bloom in the winter but poppies appeared in the streets on the lapels of the populace.

Nine decades have flown since then with this tradition faithfully followed by successive generations with Remembrance Day held on the Sunday closest to November 11. It is much significant that the Poppy Day falls on that same fateful day, November 11, this year.

From the World Wars I & II and thereafter the subsequent conflicts world over, million have been killed and maimed. Thousands more returned home with permanently damaged bodies. Still others were “wounded in (their) minds”. For some families, a lifetime of searching for missing loved ones began. What of those who are left behind “those who fought and got away”. While they were mercifully spared under brimstone and hellfire, many have survived only to face more difficult circumstances, both physically and psychologically. It is the duty of the civic society to keep the memories alive and support the government in the efforts to assist them where such assistance is required.

Over the past seven decades, Sri Lanka Ex-Servicemen’s Association (formerly known as Ceylon Ex-Servicemen’s Association) has endevoured to support this segment of patriots and to keep alive the memories of all those who rose to the occasion when our country needed them most. Apart from the financial and medical assistance, SLESA has extended the arm of good will for the children of ex-servicemen by way of scholarship grants to further their studies.

Veterans’ Home, for the care and sustenance of elderly ex-servicemen, built on the two acre land and ancestoral home of late Bharatha Wickramasinghe, run with the assistance of the Defence Ministry, Army, Navy, Air Force and the well wishers, completes a quarter century of existence this year.

With financial assistance from an expatriate in Australia Lt Cdr (Retd) Marty Somasundaram, Rex Morgan Foundation, CESA Branch of Australia, the relatives of late Major Peter A de Mel and friends of Veterans we were able to improve the infra structure facilities to transform the Veterans’ Home to be a role model to be emulated.

It has been now decided to arrange for infrastructure facilities to accommodate ex-service women also, as a futuristic requirement. Poppy campaign is not only a fund raising project to sustain the welfare activities of SLESA but a dedicated awareness programme to cherish the memories of all servicemen who contributed with their life and limb. This is also a perfect manner by which we can show our gratitude to them. When at the going down of the sun and in the morning we remember those who paid the supreme sacrifice, let us also pause to think of those who “fought and mercifully got away, as they live to fight another day”. Lest we forget!