FROM 1949-1972
Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army Ordnance became a Corps on 14 October 1949. With the raising of Ceylon Army in 1949, ammunitions of the Royal Ordnance were accepted and stacked in the government store rooms. The Ordnance store room was established in the ensuing year, on 1 February 1950 in Kirulapone
An advisior to Royal Army Ordnance Corps , Major B G Brecher was the first Director of the Sri Lanka Ordnance and he was sent to Sri Lanka on deputation on 11 March 1950. The initial plan to establish Sri Lanka Army Ordnance Corps (SLAOC) was laid down by him with the help and advice of Wolly Rowi. Sri Lanka Corps of Ordnance was officially established as a Unit on 29 March 1950 with 2 Commissioned Officers, 2 Warrant Officers, 1 Staff Sergeant, and 3 Sergeants under the direction of Major B G Brecher. Its founder members are as follows
Captain ED Ebert,Lieutenant AADB Perera,WO I BC Waisse,WO I PM Rathnayake,Staff Sergeant Wickramaseka WEB,Sergeant Karunathilaka MLWB,Sergeant Ebert JAVD,Sergeant De Alwis CS.
Cylon Corps of Ordnance was the youngest member from the Commonwealth to have been raised according to the Royal Ordnance. Other ranks were first recruited to the Corps on 7 February 1950. During the initial years, the Corps was functioning as two units - Directorate of Ordnance Services at the Army Headquarters while the Ordnance Depot was located in Kirulapone.
Policy affairs, planning of goods and inventorying were the responsibility of the Ordnance Directorate while acceptance of goods, stocking, and issuance were the responsibilities of the issuing depot. The first ever stock of the ordnance depot was the ones that the Sri Lanka army purchased from the Royal Ordnance. From thenceforth, all Ordnance equipment necessary for the use of Sri Lanka Army were obtained from local and foreign sources.
An Arms and Ammunition unit was established in the Army Headquarters on 23 March 1950. Its first ever staff included one officer and three other ranks. As the responsibilities assigned to them were growing, the first ordnance depot was established as part Sri Lanka Electrical Mechanical Engineering Corp. This unit functioned according to the Royal Ordnance Depot which was part of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Corps.
The Ordnance Depot which was located in Kirulapone was shifted to Panagoda Army Cantonment, Panagoda in July 1955. From thenceforth, the Ordnance Depot was in operation from Panagoda. In March 1956, the Sri Lanka Corps of Ordnance was separated from the Royal Army Ordnance Crops. The officers, therefore, returned to their country, and in the same month, Lt Col DFT Abeysinghe was appointed the first Commanding Officer of the Sri Lanka Ordnance Corps . At the time, the Corps consisted of 6 officers and 176 other ranks.
Lt Col BG Brecher MBE
WO I BS Waise
Thereafter, the SLAOC was functioning jointly with the Ordnance Director under the supervision of senior Stock control officer and accounts officer. All duties pertaining to SLAOC were performed under the SLAOC Directorate and the Commanding Officer SLAOC was answerable to the Army Commander on all technical affairs related to ordnance services.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SRI LANKA ARMY ORDNANCE CORPS UNDER THE ARMY ORDER IN 1968
CAOC Headquarters and stocks control unit were located at the present Panagoda Base Hospital building (later Logistic Command Headquarters). Billets, mess, and the kitchen of other ranks were located in an old two storeyed building in the vicinity. The billet of the Commissioned Officers and Sergeants was located in the current billet use by the WOs’ & SGTs’ Mess of the 1st Regiment SLAOC.
