The military funeral of the late General Deshamanya Denis Perera, former Commander of the Army was held with full military honours today at the Colombo General Cemetery. Gen. Perera was appointed as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army on October 14, 1977.
The pinnacle of his vision towards training military personnel was the establishment of the Sri Lanka Military Academy and the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy (KDA). General Perera envisioned KDA as an essential institute fostering a spirit of comradeship among tri-service officers while providing tertiary level education.
He was the first recipient of the Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya Medal in Sri Lanka. Among the other medals are:
Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Services Medal 1972
Sri Lanka Army 10th Anniversary Medal 1959
Sri Lanka Army 25th Anniversary Medal 1974
Ceylon Armed Forces Inauguration Medal
President’s Inauguration Medal 1978
Sri Lanka Armed Services Long Service Medal 1979
Volunteer Force 100th Anniversary Medal
In addition to these medals, General Perera has also been awarded with the ‘Order of National Security Merit’ from the Republic of Korea.
On retirement from the Army, General Perera was appointed as the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in Australia with accreditation to New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Islands of Fiji.
Later, the Government appointed him as the Head of the Defence Review Committee. He was the founder president of the Association of Retired Flag Rank Officers.
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumarathunga bestowed on him the title of Deshamanya in 2000. On October 01, 2007 he was promoted to the rank of General by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.