Thus, KDU gratefully dedicated to him “the Founder’s Corner” established to depict the history of KDU in the General Sir John Kotelawala Memorial Museum. Joseph Everard Denis Perera was born on 10th October 1930 in Colombo. Having excelled in academics and emerged as an outstanding sportsman particularly in athletics, rugby and tennis at St Peter’s College, Colombo, he got enlisted in the Sri Lanka Army as an Officer Cadet in 1949, and he underwent initial military training at the prestigious Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in the United Kingdom from 1949 to 1951. After the successful completion of the Officer Cadet Course in the UK, young Denis Perera was commissioned on 02nd August 1951 and was posted to the Corps of Engineers in the Ceylon Army. Since then, he gradually rose in the hierarchical ladder in the Army, where he was promoted to the ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major General from 1951 to 1977. 

 He reached the zenith of his military career when he was appointed as the 8th Commander of the Sri Lanka Army on 14 October 1977. During his tenure as the Commander of the Army, he provided a strong leadership to the military operations in the North and East. Further, in the face of the escalating terrorist activities in the country, his leadership and foresight set the pace for the rapid expansion of the Sri Lanka Army accompanied with initiatives for new infrastructure development projects for the Army. This inspiring leader won the admiration of his superiors as well as subordinates as an exemplary officer throughout his career. 

 As mentioned above, it was his brainchild to establish an institution to produce graduated officers for the tri-services and to train them together to inculcate a sense of “togetherness” among them so that there would emerge a strong inter-service cooperation, and it was this concept that evolved into the establishment of Kotelawala Defence Academy (KDA) in 1981, which later became General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University. Having completed 32 years of illustrious and distinguished service in the Sri Lanka Army and having being promoted to the next rank, Lt Gen JED Perera retired from active service on 14th October 1981. However, his concern for the advancement of the defence services in the country never dwindled even after retirement, and in consideration of his pioneering effort in establishing the tri-service academy, he was appointed by HE the President as the Chancellor of KDU in 1995, and he continued to hold this honorary office for fifteen long years till 2010. General Deshamannya JED Perera VSV D Litt (Honoris Causa), FCMI (UK) FIMgt (SL) ndc psc, the former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army passed away on 11th August 2013 in Colombo at the age of 83. Deshamannya JED Perera’s immeasurable contribution to the nation will remain in the hearts and minds of people in a grateful nation.