Saliya Upul Aladeniya

Captain Samarakoon Wasala Mudiyanselage Saliya Upul Aladeniya, PWV, SLRS (In Sinhalese: කපිතාන් සාලිය උපුල් අලදෙනිය; 1 March 1963 – 11 June 1990) was Sri Lankan soldier and the second recipient of the Parama Weera Vibhushanaya, highest war time award for valor of Sri Lanka. He was commanding the small army detachment at Kokavil, when it was surrounded he refused to abandon the injured and fought until they were overrun by LTTE.

Born in Kandy, his father was a Captain in the Ceylon Army Volunteer Force. Educated at Trinity College Kandy, he joined the Sri Lanka Army in 1989 as a volunteer officer. Following a short commissioning course at the Sri Lanka Military Academy, he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant into the 2nd(v) Battalion, Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment and served with it in Nuwara Eliya.

In May, Lieutenant Aladeniya and his platoon was deployed to an isolated army outpost at Kokuvla (Kokavil) that was established for guarding the television relay station. The camp was surrounded for several days by LTTE cadres who outnumbered them five to one. The food and water were running out in the camp and so was the ammunition. In spite of many requests, reinforcements sent from Wanni headquarters never reached Kokavil, having been diverted elsewhere. On July 11, orders to withdraw from the camp came at the eleventh hour but then it was too late and Aladeniya had wounded men whom he did not want to leave behind. Pledging that he would rather die alongside them than leave them, Lt. Aladeniya fought on till an adjacent fuel dump exploded, killing the majority of the defenders in the camp. Since his body was not recovered he has been listed as missing in action.

Aladeniya was posthumously promoted to rank of Captain and awarded the Parama Weera Vibhushanaya medal on June 21, 1994. In offensive operations in 2009, the Sri Lanka Army recaptured Kokavil. In 2011, the transmition tower was rebuilt and a monument to Aladeniya and his men was built.