The Launch of Beyond Rank

Beyond Rank: The Leadership and Legacy of Major General Milinda Peiris was ceremonially launched on 25 August 2026 at 4.30 p.m. at the Faculty of Graduate Studies Auditorium of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University.

The occasion brought together a large and distinguished gathering representing many different chapters of Major General Milinda Peiris’s life. General (Retd) G. H. de Silva, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and author of the Foreword to Beyond Rank, graced the occasion as Chief Guest.

The gathering included the Commander of the Army, the Inspector General of Police, former Tri-Service Commanders, former and present Vice Chancellors of KDU, senior military officers and academics, together with colleagues, friends and relatives who had shared different stages of Milinda’s journey. Among them were his seniors and contemporaries, officers and men of the Sri Lanka Armoured Corps, academic colleagues, officer cadets and university students.

Their presence gave the evening a significance beyond the formal launch of a book. Many of the people whose paths had crossed Milinda’s during more than four decades of military service, academic leadership and public life had come together in one place to witness his story pass into the hands of its readers.

The book was reviewed by Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy. Mr Vijitha Yapa, Chairman of Vijitha Yapa Publications, addressed the gathering on behalf of the publisher, while author Kithsiri Amaratunga reflected on the journey of researching and writing Beyond Rank.

The photographs that follow capture the ceremony — and, more importantly, something of the remarkable gathering of people from different periods of a life that the pages of Beyond Rank seek to preserve.