General Hamilton Wanasinghe (Retd) VSV, USP, ndc:

The military funeral of General Hamilton Wanasinghe was held at Borella last Saturday.

A legendary military leader of our time, he served Sri Lanka for more than 41 years (1954-1995) in various capacities such as the Commander of the Army, Commander Joint Operations Command (presently known as Chief of Defence Staff) and Secretary of Defence.

 More than 1,700 troops lined up at Bauddhaloka Mawatha by 1630 hrs, representing the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, followed by the members of The Ex-Servicemen’s Association, where General Wanasinghe was President for a number of years. His contribution towards having a pension scheme introduced for Volunteer Units of Military is always remembered with gratitude.

The casket carrying remains of the General was placed on the Gun Carriage with six pallbearers on either side of it led by General’s own son, Major General Sanjaya Wanasinghe (retired), who rose to position of Chief of Staff of Army, following the footsteps of his illustrious father. General Srilal Weerasooriya (retired) – an Artillery Crops officer like General Wanasinghe, former Army Commanders General Daya Rathnayake, General Mahesh Senananayake, General  Chrishantha de Silva, General Shavindra Silva were present.

Guns of the General’s own unit, 4th Battalion of Artillery Regiment, boomed against overcast skies. “Minute guns” (one gun shot in every passing minute) indicated that the funeral procession was progressing towards the crematorium.

Army units at the funeral were led by the Artillery Regiment, followed by other regiments, including two units raised by General Wanasinghe himself as the Army Commander – Corps of Military Intelligence, which was placed under the late General Lionel Ballagalle, another Anandian, Artillery officer who was a Colonel at the time and the Special Forces, with Major General Gamini Hettiarachchi as its head in 1988. General Wanasinghe’s visionary thinking was aptly demonstrated during the fight against the LTTE when these two units worked in unison to bring LTTE to their knees by targeting their military leadership in greatly successful “behind-the-enemy-lines” operations.

Once the Casket was removed from the Gun Carriage podium by six regimental Sergeants Major of the Artillery Corps, of same height, smartly dressed in ceremonial uniform, the Commander of the Army’s Special Part 1 orders were read by Major General KVNP Premaratne, RSP, USP, nps the Adjutant General of the Sri Lanka Army.

With the drill “Parade Presenting Arms” the artillery guns from General’s own unit fired 17 gun-salutes with exactly five-second intervals. Witnessing this respectful and solemn funeral parade were senior politicians, Karu Jayasuriya and Nimal Siripala de Silva. Major General Aruna Jayasekara (retired) Deputy Defence Minister,  Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe Jr, retired Secretaries of Defence, Chiefs of Defence Staff, Service Commanders like General Gerry Silva, General Shantha Kottegoda, General Jagath Jayasooriya, Admiral Daya Sadagiri, General Kamal Gunaratne, Admiral Priyantha Perera and Air Chief Marshal Udeni Rajapaksa.

General Wanasinghe lost three of his close relatives- two nephews (Major Panduka Wanasinghe and Captain Nalin Jayathilake) and his son-in-law, Brigadier Bathiya Jayathilake, during the country’s 30-year-long conflict. I always remember that when I talked to him about Bathiya, who was his aide when he was Commander and Secretary Defence, he used to say, “I lost my right hand.” He never prevented them from going to the battlefield simply because he was the Commander. What a great man!

General Wanasinghe was extremely fortunate to commission and present the commissioning sword to his own son Sanjaya. It was the first time in Sri Lanka’s military history an Army Commander commissioned his own son into the Army.

I can vividly remember that General Wanasinghe and his wife were extremely happy and proud on that day. Mrs Ira Wanasinghe ( née Jayathilake) married young Army officer Hamilton in 1960. They had five children (three daughters and two sons). Sadly, she passed away a few years ago.

Another close relative of General Wanasinghe had a narrow escape on the battlefield; he was critically injured. He was Major Atula Jayawardena from the Artillery Battalion. The incident occurred in 1985 on the Mannar – Medawachchiya Road due to multiple land mines blasts. Athula and his driver were extremely lucky, surviving with injuries, where five others in his vehicle died. I was in a vehicle behind him and it fell into the crater created by the blast. Those were the dangerous days on Mannar- Medawachchiya road! Athula rose to the rank of Major General before retiring.

When I was a school cadet at Royal College in 1978, I visited the Army Hospital with Bathiya and another friend, our Cadet Sergeant Naeem Mahamoor, to see then Colonel Hamilton Wanasinghe, who was injured due to an accident at the firing range. It was the first time I met him. He was extremely happy to see us youngsters and narrated stories of his school time as a Cadet and happy days at the Diyatalawa School Cadet camps. He was a Sergeant Major in 3rd Battalion of the Ceylon Cadet Corps in the early 1950s at Ananda College, Colombo and was an excellent marksman who represented Ceylon in Inter- Dominion Small Bore Rifle Shooting Competitions. He joined the Ceylon Army in 1954 as an Officer Cadet and was sent to the Royal Military Academy (RMA), Sandhurst in the UK for training. After successfully completing the training programme, he joined the Ceylon Army Artillery Corps

General Wanasinghe’s love for firearms and knowledge of them encouraged him to introduce Sniper firing training to the Army and established a Sniper firing training school at Diyatalawa when he was the Commander of the Army. Later, his son Sanjaya became the Commandant of Marksmanship and Sniper Training School (MSTS).

Some of the best snipers of the Sri Lanka Navy, especially of the Special Boats Squadron were trained by Sanjaya. Thanks Sanjaya for your great work. Your beloved father was extremely proud of you.

General Wanasinghe, on his retirement, moved to his village, Malwana. While I was the Navy Commander, he used to call me whenever the Kelani river overflowed, causing floods. He always talked on behalf of the villagers who were affected and marooned by floods. He was very concerned about their welfare. One of his happiest moments was when the main road between Dompe and Malwana was named after him on 24 August 2019.

I met General Wanasinghe as the founding Commanding Officer of Special Boats Squadron ( SBS) – the Naval Commando Unit in December 1993, when he was the Secretary Defence. It was after the Pooneryn amphibious landing by SBS assist the besieged Army camp there.

I met him with a request letter from the then Commander of the Navy (Admiral DSMR Samarasekara) requesting for approval for paying “Commando Allowance ” to SBS personnel also. He listened to me and said: “Ravi, we require such a unit to fight the LTTE Sea Tigers. Develop it into a formidable unit. My blessings are with you.” He approved the request.

Thanks to his vision, the SBS played a pivotal role in sea battles with the enemy in lagoons and in littoral seas to free the country from the clutches of terrorism.

May he attain the supreme bliss of Nirvana!

 (Admiral Wijegunaratne WV, RWP and Bar, RSP, VSV, USP, NI (M) (Pakistan), ndc, psn, Bsc
(Hons) (War Studies) (Karachi) MPhil (Madras)

is former Navy Commander and former Chief of Defence Staff, former Chairman, Trincomalee Petroleum Terminals Ltd, former Managing Director Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, and former Lankan High Commissioner to Pakistan)