Navy pays tribute to Commander M. G. S. Perera

 A section of the distinguished gathering of elite personnel including (in the Front Row) the Commander of the Navy, Mrs. M. G. S Perera and her Son, several former Commanders of the Navy and the Army and Retired Senior Naval Officers along with Flag Staff Rank Officers of the Navy 

A memorial oration as a tribute to the late Instructor Commander M. G. S. Perera, on his Birth Centenary, entitled “Instructor Extraordinary” was delivered by Instructor Lieutenant Commander (Retired) Somasiri Devendra on 02 June 2017 at the Admiral Somathilake Dissanayake Auditorium at Naval Headquarters in Colombo.

This was followed by the launch of the book ‘Teacher to the Navy’ compiled by his son Dr. Ajith C. S. Perera and also its electronic version [goo.gl/qcduyX] by the Commander of the Navy.

It was organised by the Naval & Maritime Academy Trincomalee (NMA) as a part of its golden jubilee anniversary.

The timely event was arranged in recognition and sincere appreciation of the outstanding contributions made and the untiring efforts put in over 23 years to the Navy by the late Commander Perera – NMA’s founding father and first Commandant – firstly in the establishment of formal Naval & Maritime training in the then Ceylon Navy (in June 1952), thereafter in turning an almost dying Navy (in the mid-60s) into the bold and victorious Navy as it stands today and, thereafter until the end of his life, to the country.

It was held in the presence of a distinguished gathering of elite personnel, most of the retired senior Naval Officers who had been nurtured and trained by Commander M. G. S. Perera over the period (1950 – 1970), starting with Admiral Deshamanya Basil Goonasekera, and included the first two Commanders of the Navy produced by the NMA from its very first batch of officer cadets, Admiral Cecil Tissera (1997) and Admiral Daya Sanadagiri (2001).

Also present on this occasion were Admiral (Rtd.) Mohan R. Samarasekera, the 20th Commander of the Army- General (Rtd.) Daya Rathnayaka, the Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka Navy Rear Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe, the Deputy Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka Navy Rear Admiral Neil Rosayro and Flag Rank Officers of the Navy.

Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, the present Commander of the Navy – the 8th consecutive Commander of the Navy produced by the NMA - was the Chief Guest.