Brigadier Leonard "Lyn" Merlyn Wickramasuriya (26 March 1916 – 27 June 2002) was a
Sri Lanka Army officer, he served as the
Commandant,
Army Training Centre and
Diyatalawa Garrison Commander.
Born on 26 March 1916, Wickramasuriya was educated at
Trinity College, Kandy. He was commissioned as a
second lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank.
Australia
The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
in the
Ceylon Garrison Artillery
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
1 April 1940. From 1941 to 1942, Captain Wickramasuriya served as
Officer Commanding, the
Ceylon Defence Force contingent deployed to the
Cocos Islands and was succeeded by Captain George Gardiner. Under Captain Gardiner's command the CGA detachment mutinied in the
Cocos Islands mutiny. With the end of the war, he was demobilized in 1946.
When the
Ceylon Army was formed in October 1949, Wickramasuriya commissioned as a
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
in it on 11 November 1949. Attached to the 1st Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment,
Ceylon Artillery; he was promoted to the rank of major on 1 June 1952. Promoted to
lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
on 1 October 1957, he was appointed
commanding officer
The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...
of the 1st Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment based at the
Rock House Army Camp. Following the
1962 coup d'état attempt the 1st Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment was disbanded in disgrace on 25 April 1962 and its officers and men transferred to the 4th Field Regiment, Ceylon Artillery formed on 26 April 1962 with Colonel Wickramasuriya as its commanding officer until April 1964. On 1 May 1964, Colonel Wickramasuriya was appointed the first of the Commandant, Army Training Centre and Garrison Commander, Diyatalawa. His tenure saw the establishment of the Officer Cadet School in the Army Training Centre under Major
Denis Perera to train officers locally with a curriculum based on that of
Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. He served as Commandant until his retirement on 31 December 1969. On 1 November 1999, he was promoted to the
honorary rank of
brigadier by the
president of Sri Lanka
The President of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්රී ලංකා ජනාධිපති ''Śrī Laṃkā Janādhipathi''; ta, இலங்கை சனாதிபதி ''Ilankai janātipati'') is the head of state and head of government of t ...
. He died on 25 June 2002 and his military funeral was held on 27 June 2002.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wickramasuriya
Sri Lanka Artillery officers
Ceylon Garrison Artillery officers
Ceylonese military personnel
British Army personnel of World War II
People from British Ceylon
Ceylonese military personnel of World War II
Sinhalese military personnel
Sri Lankan brigadiers
1916 births
2002 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy