12th August 2016 04:01:12 Hours
The fourth annual memorial oration of late General Deshamannya Denis Perera, organized by the Association of Retired Flag Rank Officers (ARFRO), was delivered at the Kotelawala Defence University on Thursday (11) in the presence of the Hon State Minister of Defence, Mr Ruwan Wijewardene, Secretary Defence, Engineer Karunasena Hettiarachchi, Tri-service commanders, Mr Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and a large gathering of both serving and retired officers and relatives of General Deshamannya Denis Perera.
At the invitation of the ARFRO, the Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Gagan Bulathsinghe attended the event as the distinguished orator and delivered the memorial oration under the theme, "Integrity, professionalism and empathy, the ethos of officering" recalling the memories of the late General Denis Perera.
Before the commencement of the oration, the Commander of the Air Force was presented with the customary Memorial Oration Medal by the ARFRO President, Rear Admiral (Retd), H.S. Rathnakeerthi.
Lieutenant General, Crishanthe De silva, Commander of the Army attended the event as a special invitee.
Late General Deshamannya Denis Perera, a past student of St. Peter’s College, served as the Commander of the Army from 1977 to 1981. Following his retirement from the Army, he was appointed as the Sri Lankan High Commissioner for Australia, and later on he became the Chancellor of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University. In honour of his commendable service to the nation, he was awarded the title of Deshamannya by the Government of Sri Lanka in 2000.
