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Brigadier Ariyaratne "Ariya" Ariyapperuma, psc, GW was a Sri Lankan Army officer, who was the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Northern Command.
Ariyaratne Ariyapperuma | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Ariya |
| Born | 8 December 1933 Ballantudawa, Raigama. |
| Died | 19 November 1984 † Tellipallai, Jaffna |
| Service/ | Sri Lanka Army |
| Years of service | 1957-1984 |
| Rank | Brigadier (posthumous) |
| Unit | Gemunu Watch |
| Commands held | Northern Command, Operations Command Colombo, 1st Gemunu Watch |
| Battles/wars | Sri Lankan Civil War |
Ariyapperuma joined the army in the first batch of cadet officers to undergo training at the newly established Army Training Centre and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 1st Battalion of the Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment in 1958. In 1962, now Captain Ariyapperuma was transferred to the 1st Gemunu Watch. Having attended Staff College, Camberley, he served as the Commanding Officer of the 1st Gemunu Watch from December 1977 to January 1980 with rank of lieutenant colonel.[1][2]
In 1983, as a colonel he was serving as Commander (Operations), Colombo when the Black July riots broke out in the city and surroundings. In September 1983, he took over as Commander, Northern Command in the Jaffna Peninsula. There he was killed on 19 November 1984, when his jeep hit a landmine on the Vallai-Tellipalai-Araly road in Tellippalai, Jaffna. At the time he was the most senior officer of the Army to be killed in the line of duty and was promoted to the rank of Brigadier posthumously and the Brigadier Ariyapperuma Memorial Hall at the Kuruwita Army Camp was named in his honor at the Regimental Headquarters of the Gemunu Watch.[3]
References edit
- ^ "Sinha Regiment". Sri Lanka Army. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
- ^ "THE 1ST. BATTALION OF THE GEMUNU WATCH". Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
- ^ The Tamil Separatist War in Sri Lanka, By Channa Wickremesekera, Samp Ur N Ananda Sa Msk Rta VI Svavidy Alaya