.
Lieutenant Colonel ED Nugawela succeeded Lieutenant Colonel AV Ratwatte as Commanding Officer on 1stMay 1967.
With the forming of the 3rdSri Lanka Sinha Regiment,two officers and 5 other ranks from the Battalion were attached to the new Battalion on 1st October 1969.
During this period labour strikes and protests were a common occurrence in many industrial and service sectors including the plantation sector, the transport sector, the Petroleum Corporation, the Electricity Board and at the Harbour. The chaotic situation caused the day to day functions of the Government to be rather difficult. The soldiers of the Battalion were called upon to maintain law & order as well as were employed in work related to functioning of essential services.
Troops participating at the Independence Day Parade in Kandy
Lieutenant Colonel AT Nugawela took over command of the Battalion on 1st May 1970. Under his Command, several construction works were carried out within the camps premises. A number of new buildings were erected and a number of old buildings were renovated maintaining their original architectural design. In 1971, the public lane that ran across the camp was shut down for use by the general public and the land was acquired by the Battalion.
In the first half of the 1971 unrest caused by the ongoing Insurgency caused a great deal of obstruction to the administration of the country. The strike launched by the workers of the Petroleum Corporation caused many essential services to cease to function. The Armed Services were called into maintain law & order thus, all officers and other ranks were mobilized for active service. Troops were deployed in the Thulhiriya, Matale, Kurunegala, Kegalle, Dambulla, Kekirawa,Medawachchiya, Galgamuwa, Maho and Galagedara. While being deployed at the Thulhiriya detachment, Staff Sergeant Jothipala HR was killed in an attack carried out by the insurgents. He was the first soldier to be killed in what is now termed as the 1971 JVP Insurrection.
On 30th April 1973, Lieutenant Colonel AT Nugawela was succeeded by Lieutenant Colonel CN Panabokke who assumed duties on 1st May1973.
In 1976, the Battalion carried out a parade at night time under flood lights with the Commander of the Army Major General Sepala Atigala as Chief Guest. Thiswas the first time such a parade had been held.
The Commander of the Army Major General DS Atigala inspecting troopsduring a parade held under flood lights
In the same year, the meeting of the heads of states of the non-aligned nations termed as the 'Summit' was held in Colombo. Two officers of the Battalion were nominated as Liaison Officers to heads of government of two countries attending the Summit; namely, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi the President of Libya and Mrs. Indira Gandhi the Prime Minister of India. An officer of the Battalion was also appointed as the Liaison Officer to the Governor of Sri Lanka.
The officers performing Liaison duties to heads of states during the Non-Aligned Nations Summit in 1976
