On March 20th twenty eight years ago, the Royal Ceylon Air Force, and indeed the country, lost one of its most distinguished military officers and beloved sons, Air Vice Marshal Rohan Amarasekera, DFC & Bar. He passed away at the early age 58 after a very brief illness; and being the great human he was, it would not be out of place to honour him here, even in a small way, by recounting some hitherto unpublished facets of his life.

AVM Amarasekera was born in Kegalle and completed his education at Wesley College, Colombo, that also produced another Air Force Commander, Air Marshal Terence Gunawardena. Being a young man with an inherent yearning for adventure, Rohan Amarasekera joined the Royal Air Force in 1940, as a Air Gunner. This was the time when Britain was at war with Nazi Germany.

His courage and competence soon earned for him a ‘promotion’ as a Navigator, guiding aircraft of the famous wartime No. 640 RAF Bomber squadron on dangerous bombing missions and night raids over Germany’s hostile enemy airspace, that was teeming with the dreaded German Messerschmitt (ME 109E) fighters, which were faster and deadlier that the RAF’s Hurricanes and Spitfires.

The AVM’s navigational skills coupled with cool nerves of steel, and over 85 flying sorties and air raids, earned him the highly coveted Distinguished Flying Cross & Bar, (— the term ‘Bar’ here means an addition to an earned gallantry medal, indicated by a strip of metal below the clasp, and signifies that the award was made twice, or more in exceptional instances. The medal is worn just above the left breast pocket of the uniform shirt or tunic.)

AVM Amarasekera was also the recipient of the ‘Aircrew Europe Medal’. In an article, titled "Snippets — the Good Old Days" published in a RAF magazine, Squadron Leader Sam "Whacko" Samarasinghe (who was No. 5 in the Royal Ceylon Air Force, — (the AVM was No. 2) — retired in 1965 to join the Royal Air Force and is now living in retirement in the UK.) recounted a hitherto untold incident at an RAF Officers’ Mess in the UK way back in November 1951 when he was on a Training course. This relevant passage of the article is indeed very informative and interesting.

Writes Squadron Leader Sam, "I had a tendency, to head straight for the bar on being posted to a new Station — one saw that as the most logical and, therefore, cost-effective way of making one’s number in the social context. It was also a rather pleasant way of doing things — even though women were not allowed in the bar! On one such occasion, a chap looked at me and said, ‘You are from Ceylon, aren‘t you?’ I said, ‘Yes, but how did you guess?’. He asked, ‘What do you mean?" I replied, ‘Well, wherever I go I am taken for an Indian’. He said, ‘Bull S—t!!, I know the difference! I flew with Ameresk!’. He was, of course, referring to the then Squadron Leader Rohan Amarasekera, DFC & Bar — and he went to add, ‘but he never showed fear’. That really was an accolade, from an RAF Pilot who also wore the Aircrew Europe Medal, of which Amaresk once said meant more than his DFCs!"

Squadron Leader JTR (Rex) Fernando, (SLAF Retd.) also a close confidante of the late AVM, has over a number of years written at length in the press about the life and times of this simple but great man, who joined the RCyAF from the RAF in 1951, who became the first Ceylonese to command it in 1962 and who retired to become a very private citizen sans publicity and fanfare on 1.1.1971; and to whom an unique and unforgettable Service Funeral Ceremonial was accorded. But his real strength and greatness was his humility which is illustrated in another passage in Whacko Sam’s "Snippets":- "I was on my first tour as the Officer Commanding (RCyAF Hqrs. Unit) (’55-’57). Amaresk was a Wing Commander. Group Captain GC Bladon, RAF, was the Commander of the Air Force. Amaresk, a couple of officers and I were sipping beers in the Officer’s Mess (Parson’s Road) in the forenoon on a Sunday, when the liaison officer at the Ministry (a Captain Soysa, I think, was his name), turned up and said to Amaresk, "Sir, the PM (Sir John Kotelawela) wants you at Kandawela right away!’ Amaresk dashed away. We were still there at the bar when Amaresk returned. I asked, ‘What’s the score, Sir?’ He said, ‘The PM wants me to take over the RCyAF’.

We then started to offer him our congratulations and called for a celebration, starting immediately with another round of beers, when he said, ‘No. I said I didn’t have enough experience.’ And that was that! And I, for one, can’t think of anyone else who could have been so genuinely honest, modest and unassuming.’

Those who had the privilege to know him as a friend, to serve with him as a colleague and to serve under him as a subordinate, as I did, will always remember him as a fine officer, an exemplary gentleman and indeed a great Man of 20th Century Sri Lanka.
Wg Cdr E. H. Ohlmus (SLAF Retd.)