Denis Perera

Denis Perera
Born	10 October 1930 Gampaha, Ceylon
Allegiance	Sri Lanka
Service/branch	Ceylon Army, Sri Lanka Army
Years of service	1949 - 1981
Rank	General
Unit	Sri Lanka Engineers
Commands held	Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan Army
Battles/wars	1971 Insurrection, Sri Lankan Civil War
Awards	Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya,
Other work	Chancellor of KDU, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia also accredited to New Zealand,Fiji,Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu

General Deshamanya Joseph Everard Denis Perera, VSV, FCMI, ndc, psc, SLE (10 October 1930 -) was a Sri Lankan Army officer who served as Commander of the Sri Lankan Army from 1977 to 1981.

Early life and family

Born to Mudaliyar Maurice Perera and his wife Trisette, he was the youngest in the family with an elder sister and was educated at St Peter's College, Colombo. He is married to Ranjini Perera and has three sons: Kavan, Dinesh and Druvi. His eldest son, Kavan Perera, is married to Dushyanthi nee Seneviratne the daughter of General Nalin Seneviratne and the have two daughters, Kamani and Dayani. His second son is married to Shakila Chandratilleke, and they have three sons, like Denis himself, Shanil, Chalana and Meshan. His youngest son, Druvi, is married to Tanojie Samarasinghe and they have two sons Avindra and Shivendra. His grandsons oftentimes show keen interest in joining the army themselves. Denis and Ranjani adore their grandchildren, who now live all over the world.

Military career

Joining the newly formed Ceylon army on his 19th birthday, he received his training at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Ceylon Army. Thereafter he attended the Royal School of Military Engineering and served for some time with a unit of the British Army of the Rhine. On his return he was stationed at the Diyatalawa garrison, taking part in the formation of the new engineering unit and later moved to the newly built Panagoda Cantonment in 1953, where the Ceylon Engineers was formed in 1957. During the next few years he graduated from the British Army’s Staff College, Camberley.

During his career he had been attached to several Sri Lankan High Commissions and had been the Military Attaché of the Sri Lankan High Commission in London. He had served as the Chief of Staff prior to being appointed as Commander of the Sri Lankan Army in 1977, as the youngest officer to be promoted to the post at age of 46 and first engineering officer. He would hold this post till 1981 when he retired from the army with rank of Lieutenant General.

During is turner as the army commander, he play pivotal role in establishing the Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy (KDA) after receiving Kandawala from Sir John Kotelawala to establish a defence University. For establishing the KDA he was made a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute of the United Kingdom and the Institute of Management of Sri Lanka. KDA awarded him a Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) and he was made its first Chancellor a post he currently holds.

He was the first office to be awarded the Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya (VSV) for over 25 years of distinguished service in the army, his other medals include the Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal, Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Services Medal and the President's Inauguration Medal.

Later years

Following his retirement from the army he lived a very active life, he was appointed Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Australia – which also include New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. He was the Chairman (non-executive) of the Securities & Exchange Commission, Ceylon Tobacco Company, Blackwood Hodge Engineering and GTE Directories Lanka. He founded the Association Of Retired Flag Rank Officers in which he continues to be very active; he was the President of the National Rifle Association and the Sri Lanka Badminton Foundation; and a committee member of the Sports Shooting Association.

In 2000 he was awarded the title of Deshamanya by the Sri Lankan government, and in 2007 promoted to the rank of General.^[1]

Honours

• In 2007 the Government of Sri Lanka promoted him to the honorary rank of General.
• Chancellor of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University.
• He was awarded the title Deshamanya from the Government of Sri Lanka in 2000.
• Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya - 1981
• Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute
• Fellow of the Institute of Management – Sri Lanka.

See also

• Sri Lankan Non Career Diplomats

References

1. ^ Former service chiefs promoted

External links

• Official Website of Sri Lanka Army
• AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN Deshamanya Lt. Gen. Denis Perera is rueful about the rampant bribery and corruption in society today. Savithri Rodrigo
• General. Denis Perera in Sinhala

Military offices
Preceded by D. S. Attygalle	Commander of the Sri Lankan Army 1977 - 1981	Succeeded by T. I. Weerathunga

Persondata
Name	Perera, Denis
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	10 October 1930
Place of birth	Gampaha, Ceylon
Date of death
Place of death