Major General Deshamanya Alexander Richard Udugama, was a Sri Lankan soldier, politician and diplomat.
13 Facts About Richard Udugama
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Richard Udugama was accused of an alleged coup d'etat in 1966.
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Richard Udugama's father was W A Udugama Disawe a local headmen and his mother was Loku Kumarihamy, he had five siblings.
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Richard Udugama was promoted to the temporary rank of Captain on 1 January 1943.
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Richard Udugama served as the Chief Security Officer of the Ceylon Government Railway from 1949 to 1951.
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Richard Udugama then served as the Army Recruiting Officer and Commanded the Recruit Training Depot.
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Richard Udugama remained in Jaffna until February 1962, when he was recalled to Colombo to take up the post of Chief of Staff of the army following an attempted coup d'etat by senior army and police officers.
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Bandaranaike appointed Richard Udugama to succeed Wijeyekoon with the promotion to the rank of Brigadier on 1 January 1964.
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Brigadier Richard Udugama became the first Sinhalese Buddhist and combat experienced officer to be appointed as Army Commander.
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Richard Udugama increased the intake of Buddhist officers to the army and increased the focus on jungle warfare training, having established links with Yugoslavia.
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Richard Udugama was later promoted to the rank of Major General.
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In June 1966, Major General Richard Udugama was on an official tour in Europe, visiting military training schools in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Switzerland.
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Richard Udugama was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1956 New Year Honours and was awarded the title Deshamanya by the Government of Sri Lanka in 1993.