ANNUAL COMMEMORATION CEREMONY FOR TRIBUTE OF SINHA REGIMENT WAR HEROS
Lieutenant General Daya Ratnayake, Commander of the Army gracing as the Chief Guest, the Regimental Headquarters of the Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment (SLSR) paid tribute to the memory of their fallen War Heroes at its Ambepussa Headquarters on Saturday (02), giving pride of place to next of kin and children of SLSR War Heroes, either killed in action or gone missing.\r\n\r\nThe event, organized for the 25th consecutive year, paid symbolic floral tributes to the SLSR memorial in the premises and transferred merits to 143 officers and 3719 other rankers who made the supreme sacrifice while defending the country\'s territorial integrity.\r\n\r\nThe Army Commander was welcomed by Major General Boniface Perera, Colonel of the Regiment, Sinha Regiment on arrival. Lieutenant General Daya Ratnayake, followed by Major General Crishantha De Silva, Chief of Staff of the Army and other senior officers, placed floral wreaths and paid their tribute to those fallen martyrs as next of kin and children of the departed afterwards placed wreaths and light lamps in their memory, bursting into tears. Other SLSR Senior Officers, officers and others followed suit.\r\n\r\nLieutenant General Daya Ratnayake in his brief address to the occasion recalled the supreme sacrifices made by SLSR War Heroes, like Captain Saliya Aladeniya, Cpl Gamini Kularathne and L/Cpl Abeyrathna Banda and reminded that those sacrifices have now borne fruits since the country now in peacetime.\r\n\r\nThe Army Commander also shared a couple of views with the family members of the War Heroes present. In particular, the Commander interacted with the parents of the War Heroes, Cpl Gamini Kularathne and others for some time and inquired into their well-being.\r\n\r\nLater, the commander distributed 83 gift parcels among disable war heroes and donated Rs 500,000.00 to the wife of late Major H.F Marusuk to build a house and the wife of late Warrant Officer II M.K.S.R Rupasinghe was given a land block of 15 perches. Later on the Commander laid the foundation stone for the new Digital Library Building of the SLSR Regimental Centre. To mark this occasion, the Commander also planted a Sandal Sapling at the compound.\r\n\r\nSenior SLSR Officers Major General J. Nammuni (Retd), Major General D.V. Hapuarachchi (Retd), Major General A.M.B Amunugama (Retd), Major General A.C Obayasekara (Retd) and a large gathering of officers were participated for this event. Later on in the evening it was a Perahera event and Pirith Pinkama at the Regimental Center. And following day (03) morning there was the Heel Danaya. Major General Boniface Perera, Colonel of the Regiment, Center Commandant and all other officers, other ranks and next of kin and children of SLSR War Heroes were participated for this event.
