Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Ravindra "Ravi" Vimal Jayewardene (22 April 1936 – 2 April 2017) was a Sri Lankan

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

and sports shooter. He was the son of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

J. R. Jayewardene Junius Richard Jayewardene (; ; 17 September 1906 – 1 November 1996), commonly referred to by his initials JR, was a Sri Lankan lawyer, public official and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1978 and as the secon ...

and served as the National Security Adviser in his father's administration.

Early life

The only child of J. R. Jayewardene and Elina Jayewardene, Ravi was educated at S. Thomas' Preparatory School and at

Royal College Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Si ...

Military service

Avoiding a political career, he joined George Steuart Group after completing school and thereafter joined the

volunteer force The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a Social movement, popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increa ...

of the

Ceylon Army The Sri Lanka Army (; ) is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back in 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; t ...

and following training at the Volunteer Force Training Centre he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 2nd (V) Ceylon Light Infantry in 1956. He was mobilized for internal security duties and commanded light infantry troops in

Panadura Panadura (; ) is a main city in Kalutara District, Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province in Sri Lanka. It is located approximately south of Colombo. Panadura was an electoral district in Sri Lanka until 1989 and is surrounded all sides b ...

during the

1958 Riots The 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom and riots in Ceylon, also known as the 58 riots, refer to the first island-wide ethnic riots and pogrom to target the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamils in the Dominion of Ceylon after it became an independent dominio ...

. Having been mobilized regularly, he transferred to a regular commission in 1959, but was sent on compulsory leave following the 1962 attempted coup. He competed in the 50 metre rifle, prone event at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

. In 1966, he left the army with the rank of

Air Ceylon

Having gained his pilot license from the Ratmalana Flying School, he joined Air Ceylon thereafter. In April 1971, during the JVP Insurrection he was arrested at the Ratmalana Airport by the police on accusations of giving weapons and jungle warfare training to youth associated with the JVP, but was never charged. Following a heart attack, he left Air Ceylon. Leaving the country shortly thereafter, he spent time as a Buddhist monk in Thailand for three years before migrating to Australia where he worked as a mechanic, even after his father was elected Prime Minister.

National Security Adviser

Following the 1983 riots, he returned to Sri Lanka in 1983 and was appointed National Security Adviser. With the escalation of the Sri Lankan Civil War, with concerns over the presidential security, he formed the elite Special Task Force. He assisted Lalith Athulathmudali, Minister of National Security, in the formation of the Sri Lankan Home Guard to defend border villages that were consistently attacked by the

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam ...

. He stepped down from his post when his father's term in office ended.

Later life

Jaywardene died on 2 April 2017 after a brief illness, aged 80.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jaywardene, Ravivimal 1936 births 2017 deaths Sportspeople from Colombo Sri Lankan presidential advisers Sri Lanka Light Infantry officers Sri Lankan aviators Sri Lankan male sport shooters Olympic shooters for Sri Lanka Shooters at the 1964 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for Sri Lanka Shooters at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Jayewardene family