SRI LANKA ARMY STEERED THE LAST RITES FOR LATE MAJOR GENERAL WJTK FERNANDO (Retd) psc

Sri Lanka Army steered the last rites of late Major General WJTK Fernando (Retd) psc, the most senior retired Signal Officer who passed away on 15^th December 2018. The procession of the funeral ceremony was held at 1400 hours on 17^th December 2017 at the General Cemetery, Borella in Colombo with full military honors. The Military Secretary of the Sri Lanka Army and the Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Signals attended representing the Commander of the Army together with a large number of Senior Officers and Other Ranks of the Army and joined the family members in sharing their sadness at this moment of grief.

Weerawarana Jayasuriya Totage Kamal Fernando was born on 18^th October 1933 as 3^rd to a respectable family in Matara with one daughter and seven sons. Master Kamal Fernando had his education at St Thomas’s College, Matara and excelled both in academics and sports. He proved himself as an outstanding sportsman in cricket, Table Tennis and Hokey.

At the culmination of his school education, he has joined the Radio Ceylon in 1955 as a Technical Assistant in Training. Whilst in Radio Ceylon, he got qualified in Full Technological Certificate of the City and Guilds of London that was considered a higher qualification in the field of telecommunication at that time, which also opened an avenue for him to be a technically qualified officer in the Ceylon Army in later years. Same time, being in the Radio Ceylon, he has continued in reading for his higher studies in the fields of telecommunication engineering. As the time lapsed, he got the opportunity to enter the profession he had been destined to, and joined the Ceylon Signals Corps as a Lieutenant on 21^st October 1957.

Ceylon Army then sent Lieutenant WJTK Fernando to the Cadets School at Mons, Aldershot, in the United Kingdom for the basic military training where he passed out with a report as the ‘Best Overseas Officer Cadet’. After that, from the Cadets School in Mons, he was sent to follow the Signals Young Officers Course at the School of Signals of the British Army in Catterick, in 1958 where he excelled in all training curriculum based on his professional background.

Later, in 1963, he was sent for Signals Mid-Career Course, which was then a 2 years Telecommunication Engineering Degree at the Military College of Signals Engineering in Pakistan. Back in the country, as he got through the Staff College Entry Examination in 1965, he was sent to follow the Command and Staff Course at the Command and Staff College in Camberley, United Kingdom, in 1971. With this specialized background, he served the Corps of Signals as well as the Army in numerous Command, Staff and Instructional appointments in different areas of the country displaying a high degree of professionalism and utmost commitment in discharging duties and responsibilities entrusted to him.

During his career, his absolute dedication, commitment and competence were recognized by promoting him to the rank of Captain on 21^st October 1960 and to the rank of Major on 21^st October 1968. His inspiring leadership was further rewarded by promoting him to the senior ranks of Lieutenant Colonel on 11^th November 1972. Later in 1995, he was promoted to the rank of Major General.

Major General WJTK Fernando’s career was full of innovations and initiatives. This veteran Signaller worked all around the clock exhausting his knowledge with commitment in the service to give out the best for the organization.

During communal riots in 1958, he took up the challenge and connected 22 Government Agents in the Island with Prime Minister at the Temple Trees on an improvised High Frequency voice radio network. And also he further improved the facility in a way that Commander of the Army and Prime Minister could call any one in the same radio network in the same situation being at the official residence.

During his time, in 1960s, he has upgraded technical and trade training courses for Signallers as well as for other arms by best utilizing the limited training communication equipment that were available at the Signals Training Wing. He was able to restore the radio transmission of Radio Ceylon by timely employing his well-trained team of Signallers during the famous workers’ strike of the Radio Ceylon in 1961. He designed a system to contact Army escorted trains from the Railway Headquarters by improving High Frequency radio sets relaying from the top of Piduruthalagala that ultimately connected all trains to the railway Control Room at Maradana as well.

Not only that, he, himself together with his Signals team did the first ever Television transmission in Sri Lanka, in 1970s, that was years before the Independent Television Network started transmitting Television programmes in Sri Lanka.

Major General WJTK Fernando had been an outstanding sportsman as well. He was the President of the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka in 1970s and arranged many renowned players in the country to join the Army. He also initiated and formed the Hokey, Table Tennis and Volleyball teams in the Corps of Signals that won championships several times keeping both Corps of Signals and Army flags high.

Major General WJTK Fernando held many appointments in different capacities during his glorious career. Some of the highlighted appointments among them were:
- Troop Commander of the 1 Squadron Ceylon Signal Corps.
- Squadron Commander of the Headquarters Squadron of 1st Regiment Ceylon Signal Corps.
- Officer Instructor of the Signals Training Wing of Ceylon Signal Corps.
- General Staff Officer 2 of the Army’s Northern Command.
- Commanding Officer of the 1^st Regiment Ceylon Signal Corps.

Major General WJTK Fernando was awarded with the following medals in recognition of his unblemished and distinguished service rendered to the Army:
- The Sri Lanka Armed Services Long Service Medal.
- Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Service Medal.
- Sri Lanka Army 25^th Anniversary Medal.

Major General WJTK Fernando served the Army and the country with utmost dedication displaying exemplary qualities as a professional Signaller, an Officer and a gentleman during his illustrious military career. He was always held in high esteem by his colleagues for his absolute integrity, honesty and the professional competency. Even after his retirement, Major General WJTK Fernando was a source of encouragement and inspiration to the Officers and Other Ranks of Sri Lanka Signal Corps and the Army. He always considered Young Officers are the best resource in the organization. Thus he recurrently adviced to groom and make qualify the present day Young Officers with updated knowledge on Electronics, Computer Science, and Information and Communication Technology to effectively face the future warfare. The invaluable advices and the exemplary leadership that he gave to the Sri Lanka Signal Corps and to the Army will be remembered forever.

“May he attain the Supreme Bliss of Nibbana”