World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseEkanayake Edward Rohan Amerasekera was born in 1916 as one of seven children of Edward Henry Ekanayake Amerasekera and Joslina Amerasekera, and was raised by his maternal uncle Victor de Silva Siriwardena and aunt Eda de Silva Siriwardena after the death of his parents at a young age. He attended Wesley College in Colombo, Ceylon between 1925 and 1929; Kingswood College, Kandy, Ceylon between 1929 and 1932; St. Mary's College, Kegalle, Ceylon between 1933 and 1934; and Pembroke Academy, Ceylon between 1935 and 1939. As the Japanese threat loomed large on the Crown Colony of Ceylon, Amerasekera joined the Ceylon Defence Force, only to be forced by his family to quit. Undeterred, he secretly joined the British Royal Air Force in Sep 1940. Accepted, he departed Ceylon in Jun 1941 for Britain. He initially served with No. 158 Squadron as a ground-based navigator, then was assigned to a Halifax bomber crew, and then finished the war with No. 640 Squadron at the rank of flight lieutenant. As a navigator, he saw action in bombers over France and Germany. He returned to Ceylon in early 1946 and served at RAF Kandy until Aug 1946. He retired from the British Royal Air Force in Nov 1946.

ww2dbaseAfter the war, Amerasekera worked at the Ratmalana Airport in Ceylon until May 1951, when he joined the newly established Royal Ceylon Air Force. He married Aloma Dender in 1958, with whom he would have a son and a daughter. He eventually rose to the rank of vice air marshal in the Royal Ceylon Air Force. He passed away in 1974. He was given a funeral with full military honors by the government of Sri Lanka.

Rohan Amerasekera Timeline