Lieutenant Colonel

Dr. Doctor is an academic title that originates from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. The word is originally an agentive noun of the Latin verb 'to teach'. It has been used as an academic title in Europe since the 13th century, w ...

Anthony St. Clare Rex de Costa,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

, CAVF (15 June 1920 - 9 April 1971) was a renowned Sri Lankan

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and soldier. He was the

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 Ruhunu Regiment, a doctor in the

Ceylon Defence Force The Ceylon Defence Force (CDF) was established in 1910 by the Ceylonese legislation ''Ceylon Defence Force Ordinance'', which reformed the Ceylon Volunteer Force (CVF) that existed previously as the military reserve in the British Crown colony ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and a vice president of the World Veterans Federation. He was assassinated by the JVP during the 1971 Insurrection.

Personal life

Born to Dr Marceline de Costa and Lilia De Costa ''nee'' Rajapaksha. He was educated at the

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

and at the

Colombo Medical College Ceylon Medical College was a public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociolo ...

. He was married to his cousin Doreen de Costa ''nee'' Gunathilake and four children Marcel, Cheryl, Rex and Eric. After his death the family was involved in community work in the town of Deniyaya and had close links to his old regiment, 2nd(V) Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps.

Army life

After graduating, de Costa joined the Ceylon Medical Corps of the

as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

during World War II and served in active duty until the demobilization at the end of the war, yet stayed on as a reservist with the rank of

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 ...

. His brother Malcolm de Costa joined the Ceylon Navy Volunteer Reserve and served with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

during the war. Reaching the rank of captain, Malcolm served as commander, Volunteer Naval Force. When the

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

was formed in 1949 after Ceylon gained its independence, de Costa strayed with the newly created Ceylon Army Volunteer Force as a

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 ...

and played a significant part in its early stages. In 1954, with the formation of the Ruhunu Regiment a reserve force raised from personnel from the southern province he transferred to it. He became the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Ruhunu Regiment based in

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Souther ...

with the rank of lieutenant colonel. During this time his

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

was Lt.

Tissa Weerathunga General Tissa Indraka Weeratunga, VSV (August 29, 1930 – November 2003) was a Sri Lankan senior army officer. He was a former Commander of the Sri Lankan Army (1981 – 1985) and first General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Joint Oper ...

, who would later become the head of the Sri Lankan Army. Following the general election of 1956, when S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike became prime minister, he disbanded the Ruhunu Regiment as he considered it loyal to the previous UNP government. Lt. Col. de Costa requested a transfer to his old unit the Ceylon Army Medical Corps, which was turned down. Therefore, at the age of 36 he retired from the army as one of its youngest lieutenant colonels. For his wartime service he had earned the Defence Medal and the War Medal 1939–1945, and for service in the Ceylon Army, he received the

Ceylon Armed Services Inauguration Medal The Ceylon Armed Services Inauguration Medal was awarded to members of the Ceylon armed services who served within their specific service branch during periods in 1949-1951 when their service branch was established: *Ceylon Army (10 October 1949 ...

, and the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. Thereafter he took up the cause of

world war A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

s around the world and joined the World Veterans Federation. He traveled to several countries for WVF work and became its vice president from 1961 to 1963. For his service he was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

by HM

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

and retired to a quiet life to his family home in

Deniyaya Deniyaya is a small town located towards the south of Sri Lanka. It is located in Matara District of the Southern Province. It is surrounded by the Sinharaja rainforest, and the climate is relatively cool. The main source of income is tea cultiv ...

in 1967. There he continued his medical practice for the benefit of the poor in the area.

Death

On 5 April 1971 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 ...

launched an insurrection against the government. Since the insurrection had taken the Ceylon Government by surprise many of the small police stations in rural areas were unprepared and overrun in the initial days with many constables and officers killed. The small police station in the town of Deniyaya also came under insurgent attacks and Dr. Rex de Costa volunteered his help in the form of medical aid to wounded constables and in weapons training which the police lacked. When the situation became critical on April 8 the OIC of the Deniyaya Police Station decided to withdraw his personnel to the safety of larger Police Station in

Rakwana Rakwana is a small town in the Ratnapura District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka, a notable centre of Ceylon tea plantations and industry. Additionally, Rakwana is said to have gem resources. Rakwana is local ...

. The Inspector asked Dr. Rex de Costa to come with them. Since his children were sick, Lt. Col. de Costa refused and stayed behind. After the police withdrew from Deniyaya town and its police station releasing the detainees held there. As the insurgent learnt of Dr. Rex de Costa's assistance to the police an insurgent unit went to his house around 9 am on April 9, Good Friday and demanded that he come out. As he came out from front door with hands raised, he was cut down by a hail of bullets. Dr. Rex de Costa died instantly in front of his wife.A Lost Revolution: The JVP Insurrection 1971
/ref> The assassination of Dr. Rex de Costa was one of the major incidents of the 1971 JVP Insurrection.

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

A. C. Alles a member of the Commission of Inquiry established under the Criminal Justice Commissions Act following the insurrection dedicated an entire chapter in his book about the insurrection to De Costa Murder.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Costa, Rex 1920 births 1971 deaths Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force officers Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps officers Ceylon Medical Corps officers Sri Lankan military doctors Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of the University of Ceylon (Colombo) Sri Lankan Christians Ceylonese Members of the Order of the British Empire Assassinated Sri Lankan people Ceylonese military personnel of World War II Assassinated military personnel