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| Sunday, 10 November 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Remembrance Sunday : Saluting the brave by Farah Macan Markar "In Flanders' field the Poppies blow
Thus Colonel John McRae begins his poem,"In Flanders' Field", which he wrote during the second battle of Cypress, in 1915, on a page torn from his dispatch book. Colonel McRae died in 1918, but his poem and more importantly his poppy, which he describes as a symbol of remembrance of the dead and of what has been, still lives on, worn as a token of appreciation and remembrance for all those who have died in World War I and II. The armistice marking the end of World War I took place at 11 o'clock on the 11th of November 1918, and this year we will be celebrating its 84th anniversary, today. (Remembrance Day is held on the Sunday nearest the 11th of November). Sri Lanka was a colony under the British Empire during the war years and many Sri Lankans have served in the local and British Regiments. Over the years, thereafter, "Remembrance Day" has been observed with religious ceremonies and various service parades, held to honour, not only the soldiers who have died in the World Wars, but also those who have fallen in our own civil war, which has been going on for over 18 years. The annual requirement of poppies for the "Remembrance" ceremony is donated to the Sri Lanka Ex-Servicemen's Association (SLESA) at the request made through the British Commonwealth Ex-Services League (BCESL) by the Royal British Region (RBR). This year the RBR has donated one million poppies, twice as much as last year. These poppies are placed in public places, such as schools, mercantile and public institutes, together with a poppy till or moneybox. Members of various affiliated associations together with the members of the SLESA, can also be seen on the streets with bunches of poppies in their hands ready to be given for any small donation. The funds raised from the selling of poppies are used for the benefit of old war veterans, retired personnel of all three forces, the disabled and the families of the dead.
Over the years the Remembrance Day parade has been conducted by the Sri Lanka Ex-Servcemen's Association, which is an approved charity established under an Act of Parliament. Initially begun in 1944 by the British when Sri Lanka was under Colonial rule, the SLESA is today the umbrella organization of 28 affiliated associations of retired personnel of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The first Sri Lankan President of the association (then known as the Ceylon Ex-Servicemen's Association-CESA) was Major General Kotelawela, who was its president for 33 years. In 1972 the CESA became the Sri Lanka Ex-Servicemen's Association(SLESA), when the country became a Republic. The SLESA has established eight war memorials, at Kanatte, Jawatte, Nuwara Eliya, Diyatalawa, Kandy, Trincomalee, Jaffna and the main one at the Cenotaph at the Vihara Maha Devi Park. All these memorials symbolic of those who've laid down their lives during World War I and II, are still maintained by the British. The SLESA today, whose patron is President Chandrika Bandaranaika Kumaratunga and the three vice patrons, the commanders of the Sri Lanka Army, Navy and Air Force, perform many services. Twice a year the BCESL sends seven million rupees, which is distributed on a monthly payment to over 1000 recipient ex-servicemen. Towards this end the SLESA maintains a Veterans Home at Bolagala, Katana. This home provides accommodation and food for World War II veterans. It has about 20 veterans aged between the late seventies and late eighties living in it. A 91 year old veteran of the home passed away recently. The SLESA also provides spectacles and hearing aids for those ex-servicemen in need of them. It provides financial assistance to the Ex-Servicemen's children for university education. The SLESA has also given land and established a career Guidance Bureau to provide guidance and find employment for the ex-servicemen and their children. It also gives Indoor/Outdoor treatment for Ex-Servicemen at the Military Hospital, and provides financial assistance for major surgery up to rupees 25,000 and a monthly grant to procure life-saving drugs. The SLESA has seven major objectives of which one of which is "To preserve the sacred memory of those who gave their lives in the defence of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka, previously known as Ceylon". It is to preserve this memory of those who sacrificed their lives for our protection that the SLESA is conducting the Remembrance Day and Poppy Appeal today.It is to honour all those who have died in order for us to live, that this day is celebrated. Therefore it is important for all of us, not just the families, but also the general public itself to participate in it. They are and were our soldiers. The least way for us to salute those who have died for us is to observe the two-minute silence, which starts with the first of the gun salute, fired at 9.00 a.m. A Remembrance Day parade in which participants from the Army, Navy and Air Force, past and present takes place later at 11.00 a.m. at the Cenotaph, Vihara Maha Devi Park. The head of state is usually invited to be Chief Guest. Also present will be Prasanna Gunawardena-Mayor of Colombo, Major General Thilak Paranagama, the Commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the diplomatic corps, a representative of the War Veterans, a representative of the Merchant Navy, Major General C.H. Fernando on behalf of the Sri Lanka Ex-Servicemen's Institute, Captain P. Jayasinghe-Chairman of the Armed Forces, Remembrance Day and Poppy Week, representatives from the 28 affiliated associations of the SLESA and three servicemen, on behalf of the next-of-kin of servicemen killed in action. All of the above will lay poppy wreaths at the Cenotaph, in the above order, as a tribute to the dead. Before the laying of the wreaths a multi-religious ceremony will be held in which the clergy of all four religions will conduct prayer services to bless those who have died in war. The National Anthem will be sung and a March Past of troops held, including a Detachment of Veterans, led by the band of the Sri Lanka Army. ************************ A war veteran reminisces 'Becoming an officer those days was no easy task. The education standards required were very high. The discipline remarkable. As we served under the British half the officers were Europeans,"says a War veteran, Captain Clarence A.De Silva. The Captain was commissioned on the 21st November 1942, to the Ceylon Light Infantry Battalion, which served under the British, to fight with the allies in World War II.Recalling the old days, Captain De Silva says,"In 1948 when the Sri Lankan Army was formed all the officers joined the army. I joined the Home Guard Regiment. When it was disbanded I joined the Ceylon National Guard 2nd Battalion, in which I served till 1974. When I served in the Ceylon National Guard there was a time when there were harbour strikes every 3 months. During these periods we in the Army had to do the harbour work" The old Captain was once a school boy studying at St. Thomas' College Mount. Today he is an eighty- year- old man and is a member of the Sri Lanka Ex-Servicemen's Association. Although retired from action the Captain still serves the army as being the secretary of the finance and welfare sub-committee. ************************ A soldier's horrific visions of war The first sight that greeted Ravi when stepping out of the bombed building, was the headless body of a military policeman, dressed smartly, leaning with his back against a jeep. This is a memory Ravi Karunasiri vividly recalls of the Joint Operation Command (JOC) bomb blast which happened in Flower Road. Ravi himself was injured, and still today, carries not only the fracture he has on his scapular bone, but also, the many horrifying visions of war, its ravaging fields of Death, garlanded with blood. The JOC bomb blast was not the only confrontation Ravi has had with death. Being a soldier and fighting in the ethnic war which has lasted for over 18 years Ravi has had many brushes with death. In the first LTTE landmine explosion in the Mulathiu-Naya road , Ravi, who was in command, lost nine soldiers and two vehicles. As it had been the LTTE's first attempt at setting landmines they used 200 kg of explosives. Those caught in it were blown to pieces. Ravi recalls how the LTTE for the first time fired the Rocket Propelled Grenade. Ravi was in an helicopter which was flying just above a train of armoured vehicals. The grenade had whizzed between the armoured vehicles and the helicopter exploding with a deafening sound. What remained was half of the rocket propelled grenade fins, which were identified later.Another brush Ravi has had with death was when a jeep travelling from the opposite direction on the A-9 road exploded 200 meters in front of him. He had stopped to have tea at the time. If he had proceeded a minute earlier he would not have lived to tell the tale. Ravi's story is not something new. Many soldiers who have fought to defend our country have been through similar agonizing experiences. Some have died. Others have survived. It is a sad fact that people generally only remember and honour the soldiers who have died or become disabled due to war and forget and ignore those who have survived it. Those who have survived may have been fortunate than the others but the service they have rendered for the people should not be considered any less, or what they've been through 'nothing'. They have fought with death, seen death sweep close by killing their companions, and even brushing past them. They've been through many traumatic experiences and have lived, only to be visited by those ghostly visions of war through memory and dreams. Ravi's story is living proof of this. (Names have been changed to protect identity) |
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