Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Noel Weerakoon, CA was a Sri Lankan army officer. He was the first officer of the

Sri Lanka Army ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம் , image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army , start_date ...

to be killed in action during the 1971 Insurrection. Trained at the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...

, Weerakoon was commissioned into the

Ceylon Artillery The Sri Lanka Artillery (SLA) is the artillery arm of the Sri Lanka Army. It is made up of ten regular regiments and two volunteer regiments. The SLA is headquartered at Panagoda Cantonment, Panagoda. The emblem of the SLA is modeled after that ...

. He played cricket for Sandhurst and the Ceylon Army. In April 1971, with the onset of the

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; ) is a Marxist–Leninist communist party and a former militant organization in Sri Lanka. The movement was involved in two armed uprisings against the government of Sri Lanka: once in 1971 (SLFP), and anot ...

-led insurrection Ceylon Army mobilized for its first combat operations since its formation in 1949. Captain Weerakoon lead a supply convoy from Vavuniya to Anuradhapura to deliver ammunition to the besieged town. He was wounded when his convoy was ambushed by insurgents. He succumbed to his wounds at the Anuradhapura hospital, becoming the first Sri Lankan army officer to be killed in the line of duty. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Major. His widowed young wife, Ramya Weerakoon went on to form Ramya Holdings, which became the holding company for many of the manufacturing and export industries she started following the death of her husband.Woman In Vogue
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weerakoon, Noel 1971 deaths Sri Lanka Artillery officers Sri Lankan military personnel killed in action