First poppy flower pinned on President; SL’s Remembrance Day on 11 November

The first poppy flower to commemorate the Remembrance Day was pinned on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday.

Sri Lanka Ex-Servicemen’s Association Chairman Major General Upul Perera pinned the poppy flower on President Rajapaksa.

The income earned by selling the poppy flowers is used for the welfare of retired and disabled war veterans.

The first Remembrance Day was commemorated in 1944 in Sri Lanka and this year it celebrates the 77th Poppy Flower Commemoration.

The 2021 Remembrance Day Commemoration will be held at the Cenotaph War Memorial at the Viharamahadevi Park on the morning of 14 November to commemorate the war heroes who sacrificed their lives during the First and Second World Wars as well as the civil conflict in Sri Lanka for 30 years.

Many countries around the world commemorate the Remembrance Day on 11 November annually and the commemoration is also being held in Sri Lanka on the closest Sunday to that date.

Sri Lanka Ex-Servicemen's Association General Secretary Lieutenant Colonel Ajith Siyambalapitiya, Treasurer Major Shanthilal Kankanamge and Memorial Committee Chairman Lieutenant Colonel A. Deepal Subasinghe were also present at the function at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday.