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View(s):Book facts | Assignment Peace in the Name of the Motherland ( Second Edition) by L.M.H. Mendis Reviewed by Vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage, Commander of the Navy
The three decades of conflict produced many avenues for personalities with an obsession for writing. Voluminous data, details and description, has to be aligned in a chronicle order to make sense in understanding the evolution and development of conflict with particular emphasis on how the branch of military evolved to perform its role in the conflicts. However aligning this material, verifying its authenticity and presenting it in subtle language is no easy task.
L.M.H.Mendis, the author of “Assignment Peace in the Name of the Motherland
(Second Edition)” is such a personality who had achieved his goals through the latest addition to his writing; the second edition of the book of the same title. The second edition is a detailed compilation of all spectrum of activities from Eelam war I, Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) operations, Eelam war II, Eelam war III & Eelam war IV. What is remarkable about the second edition is that it manages to present the full spectrum in one volume building the sequences up to the culmination of events in May 2009. The author has four publications vividly illustrating the unfolding events of the conflict on a series that is available in bookstores.
This thousand plus page document is compiled through many sources ranging from newspaper clippings to private interviews. The book is sure to keep the reader glued as episodes of events unfold taking the reader on a stroll along the memory lanes of a not so far history.
No document draws attention unless contained with facts and figures of authenticity. Mr. Mendis, I am sure must have burnt the midnight oil in getting the facts and figures and validating them together in making this fabulous book.
This book is primarily suited for libraries as some years from now, I am sure many would want to research into the conflict to derive the hard earned lessons. However it doesn’t mean that individuals may shy away from having one, as the book, in fact the series, is a collector’s item.
The dedication, commitment and enthusiasm of L.M.H Mendis, son of retired Navy Commodore L.P.R. Mendis is praiseworthy and I am sure it must have been a passion for him rather than an assignment. Commodore L.P.R. Mendis served in the Navy for 27 years and retired as Head of Naval Engineering in 1996. His unblemished naval career must have had a resounding effect on young Laksiri Mendis since his birth in 1978.
In his publication, many serving and retired Naval Personnel had elaborated on the incidents as they occurred, bringing up the lessons that, to my belief, are the very essence of the publication. These lessons learnt the rough hard way are sure to make our future much brighter, prosperous and secure. These narratives describe the humanity and professionalism of the men who took arms to bring peace to a country against overwhelming odds.
In concluding L.M.H. Mendis’s book ‘Assignment Peace in the Name of the Motherland (ISBN: 978-955-97640-4-5) has added another valuable piece of literature to the collection of writings on the most violent period of time in the annals of Sri Lanka. I wish to conclude by quoting George Bernard Shaw; “if history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience”. L.M.H. Mendis has done an outstanding job by compiling the history for future generations in the form of a book with wider coverage.
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