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A quiet farewell for top military man
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One of Sri Lanka’s top military men, General (retd) Cyril Ranatunga, bid farewell to the nation at a private funeral sans any military formalities at the request of his family. The funeral took place on Thursday at the General Cemetery in Borella.
General (retd) Cyril Ranatunga, who served as the General Officer Commanding, Joint Operations Command , Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army and Defence Secretary was 91 when he passed away this week.
General Ranatunga gave leadership as a General Officer Commanding, Joint Operations Command and Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army during the 1980s and also served as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea as well and the United Kingdom.
At the time of his death, he was Chancellor General of the Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy.
Born and raised in the village of Bakmeedeniya, Kegalle, in a family of six children Ranatunga attended St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy where he excelled at many sports and captained the hockey and athletic teams. He was the head prefect and won the Gold Medal for the best all round student in 1949. The following year he enrolled in the Army.
In January 1977, he was appointed Military Secretary of the Army HQ and in January 1978 he was appointed Commander, Western Command at the Panagoda Cantonment. On February 4, 1978 he was confirmed to the rank of Brigadier. In January 1980 he was instrumental in forming the Army Provident Fund.
In February 1982, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army and Commander Security Forces Headquarters – Jaffna and retired from the Army in 1983.
Following retirement, General Ranatunga served as Chairman of the Airport and Aviation Services. In February 1990, President Ranasinghe Premadasa appointed him as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence. He stepped down as Defence Secretary in April 1993.
He was appointed as the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia and thereafter Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom finishing his tenure in 1995.