War Heroes at ‘Mihindu Seth Medura’ Make Their Day with Festive New Year Spirits

Battle-hardened War Heroes at Attidiya ‘Mihindu Seth Medura’ where they are under rehabilitation for permanent injuries were lavishly entertained during a specially-designed Sinhala and Hindu New Year festival, held on Monday (24) in the presence of the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Vikum Liyanage RWP RSP ndu as the Chief Guest.

Major General S. P. A. I. M. B Samarakoon Hdmc Lsc, Commander, Army Logistic Command, Major General M. K Jayawardana RSP USP ndu, Chief Field Engineer, Major General W. M. R. W. W. H. J. B Wanigasekara USP, Master General Ordnance and Major General M. G. W. W. W. M. C. B Wickramasinghe RWP RSP ndu psc, Adjutant General added significance to the festive event and motivated those War Heroes.

The typical Sinhala and Hindu New Year festival of the Mihindu Seth Medura was comprised of traditional games and interesting features, including pillow-fighting, breaking of pots, dotting the elephant’s eye, musical chairs, balloon inflating, lime-balancing, curd-feeding, etc. Differently able War Heroes who had sacrificed their legs and limbs against the division of the motherland before May 2009 contributed to those events with vigour.

Upon arrival of the day’s Chief Guest, a formal Guard Turnout at the entrance to the Mihindu Seth Medura greeted him in accordance with military formalities before a resident War Hero along with Brigadier T. S Balasooriya, Commandant of Attidiya Mihindu Seth Medura welcomed Lieutenant General Vikum Liyanage.

At the outset, the Commander of the Army, together with Officers and Other Ranks visited wards at the Mihindu Seth Medura and inquired about the well-being of those resident War Heroes while exchanging few words with them. At the same time, he gave away special gift parcels to those War Heroes as tokens of New Year greetings.

The traditional oil lamp-lighting by the day’s Chief Guest and the invitees marked the beginning of the day’s event and followed a dancing spectacle that symbolized the dawn of the auspicious New Year.

The festive atmosphere turned entertaining, fun-making and extremely interesting as those differently able War Heroes joined with one another to make their day memorable in the presence of the Army Chief.

Towards the end of the day’s formal festive arrangements, the Chief Guest was invited to appreciate their different skills by distributing incentives and New Year gifts, including those who won in different New Year games and collective competitions. The day’s visitors afterwards joined a traditional tea table with all injured War Heroes.

Before his departure, the Army Chief did not forget to leave a few New Year compliments in the Mihindu Seth Medura Visitors’ Book.