‘National War Heroes’ Month - 2017 Begins Pinning First Flag on President

The ‘National War Heroes’ month - 2017, dedicated to the memory of all fallen War Heroes of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police and the Civil Security Department formally began with the pinning of the first War Hero commemorative flag on HE the President Maithripala Sirisena on Thursday (4) at the Presidential Secretariat.

Mrs Anoma Fonseka, Chairperson, Rana Viru Seva Authority pinned the first flag and inaugurated the commemorative month. To coincide with the National War Heroes’ month, Rana Viru Seva Authority has organized a series of commemorative events at provincial levels between May 5 - 18.

The peak of the commemorative events takes place on 19 May 2017 at the War Hero Memorial at the Parliament grounds, headed by tri service chiefs and a host of distinguished guests where floral wreaths are to be laid in memory of those fallen War Heroes who fought against the three-decade long terrorism and the separatist agenda.

Thursday’s (4) brief event at the Presidential Secretariat also saw Governors at provincial levels hand over last year’s cash collections, generated by selling War Hero flags to the President. At the same time, the President symbolically distributed new stocks of flags for the year 2017 among the Governors who graced the occasion.

Governors, Hon State Minister of Defence, Ruwan Wijeywardene, Secretary Defence, Eng Karunasena Hettiarachchi, Secretary to State Ministry of Defence, Mr A.P.G Kithsiri, Chief of Defence Staff, Commander of the Navy, Chief of Staff of the Army, representative Senior Officers of the Sri Lanka Air Force, Police and the Civil Security Department were associated with the occasion.

(Photo Courtesy: President’s Media Unit)