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Commonwealth War Veterans Remembered in Solemn Ceremony

Major General Ubaya Medawela, Chief of Staff representing the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva this afternoon (11) as a special invitee attended the British High Commission - organized ‘Remembrance Commemoration’ at the Commonwealth War Memorial inside the Jawatte (Liveramentu) cemetery, Colombo 5.

The Remembrance, organized jointly by the British High Commission in Sri Lanka and the Commonwealth War Memorial Committee in the Commonwealth is staged every year as a tribute to the World War victims of Commonwealth countries.

Wreath-laying at the memorial and observance of one-minute silence marked the event.

High Commissioner for Britain, HE James Dauris, representatives of Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force, were present at the occasion.

A total of 1,999 war veterans of Commonwealth countries, died in Sri Lanka during the World War, are commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in different island-wide cemeteries or separate plots, including two in the capital, Colombo.

The Liveramentu Memorial at Liveramentu (Jawatte) cemetery bears the names of 346 Commonwealth servicemen and one serviceman from the Netherlands. The other, too in the same location commemorates 165 servicemen of Hindu faith.

There are six Commonwealth war cemeteries in Sri Lanka, four in Colombo, one in the hill capital Kandy and one in Trincomalee. Other Commonwealth war casualties rest in Jawatte Cemetery, Kuppiyawatte Muslim Cemetery, Kandy civil cemetery, George E. De Silva Park in Kandy and Nuwara Eliya Holy Trinity churchyard.