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Father’s Day Greetings to the Children of our Nation

By:
By: Admiral Ravindra C Wijegunaratne, WV, RWP and Bar, RSP, VSV, USP, ndc, psn, MPhil
Chief of Defence Staff

[This article appeared on Sunday Island newspaper and Sunday Times web site on Father’ Day 17th June 2018]

The second Sunday of the month of June Commanders decided to sent reinforcement
is considered as Father’s Day. We all celebrate troops through an amphibious landing. My unit
this special day with our children. On this day SBS, the brand-new Naval Special Force was
I would like to share my thoughts and affection tasked to carry out the first wave of landing.
with the children whose fathers sacrificed their
Landing at an enemy beach is a suicidal
lives for our tomorrow and for the peace of this
task. If you want to see how it looks like, please
country.
watch first half an hour of Steven Spielberg’s
This story is about a few of those fathers and award-winning film “Saving Private Ryan”. It’s
their children whom I know. bloody and chaotic. There is no cover for you
Samantha until you get some cover by crossing the beach
area. Enemy obstacles and gun positions will be
there to slow down your advance and there is a
Twenty-five years ago, in Fort
90 percent probability of getting killed or injured
Hammenhiel, Karinagar, two officers and
during this crossing.
forty-two sailors, all volunteers from the Navy
underwent a special training to start a new unit Orders were issued; Samantha and I
in our Navy known as the Special Boat Squadron were commanding two Inshore Patrol Craft
(SBS) or the Naval Commando Unit. (commonly known as Water Jets) which carried
fifteen Commandos each, followed by fiberglass
SBS was formed to fight against LTTE Sea
boats carrying six Commandos each. My orders
Tigers in lagoons and waterways. I was fortunate
were very clear to Samantha. I told him, that I will
enough to command this unit and train my men
land first because I want to assess the situation.
to be the “Bravest of the Brave” in the Navy. I was
a young Lieutenant Commander at that time and Navy Gunboats started bombarding the
my Second-in-Command was an officer more beach early morning with their 37mm guns, and
than 12 years junior and younger to me. He was we were given clearance to do the landing with
Acting Sub Lieutenant Samantha Waruna Gallage, the lull of heavy gunfire. Our two Water Jets raced
hailed from Dehiwala, was an excellent swimmer towards Poonaryn beach. Two machine guns of
and a fearless fighter. Samantha was also an enemy started firing towards us and suddenly
excellent boat handler and a top marksman. Samantha increased the speed of his Water Jet
and landed first and nullified enemy machine gun
We trained together for three months
position with his grenade launchers.
in the Karainagar lagoon with the intention of
taking over boat operations in the Jaffna lagoon I was very angry with Samantha. My orders
from our small detachment at Nagadevannturai. were very clear as I told him that I will be landing
first. However, I was very happy that he destroyed
On 2nd November 1993, our naval
enemy gun positions in quick sessions with no
detachment in Nagadevanthuri and Poonaryn
casualties to us. The landing was successful and
Army Complex came under heavy attack from
we established the beachhead for our landing
the enemy. One by one small detachment around
craft to beach and reinforcements poured in. Rest
the main Pooneryn Army Complex fell into the
was history. Poonaryn landing was successful.
enemy’s hand like a pack of cards and more
The SBS was hailed as the “Bravest of the Brave”
than 700 military personnel were trapped in
in the Navy.
Poonaryn.
After accomplishing our given task
As there was no possibility to reinforce
successfully, we returned to Karainagar that
the besieged Army Complex from the air, Military