Bertram Heyn

Bertram Russell Heyn
Born	October 1, 1912
Died	February 3, 1998
Allegiance	Sri Lanka
Service/branch	Ceylon Defence Force Ceylon Army
Years of service	19??-1967
Rank	Major General
Unit	Ceylon Light Infantry
Commands held	Commander of the Sri Lankan Army , Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan Army
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	War Medal 1939–1945
Other work	President of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka

Major General Deshabandu Bertram Russell Heyn, idc, psc, CLI (October 1, 1912 – February 3, 1998) was a Sri Lankan general and a cricketer. He was a former Commander of the Ceylon Army.

Education and Cricketing career

Educated at Royal College, Colombo, he played for the cricket team at Royal College, debuting in 1930 and played in the Royal-Thomian. He played for the Ceylon cricket team and his most famous feat was getting Sir Donald Bradman out on his last appearance in Colombo, in an unofficial Test match between Australia and All-Ceylon on 27 March 1948. Bradman was able to score only 20 runs before being caught out by R.L. de Kretser off Heyn's bowling. Heyn also played hockey and rugby. He graduated from the Staff College, Camberley and the Imperial Defence College.

Military career

He joined the Ceylon Defence Force and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Ceylon Light Infantry before World War II. By the end of the war he was a Captain. When the Ceylon Army was formed in 1949 he was commissioned as a Major in the regular force. In the early 1950s he took command of the Ceylon Light Infantry with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Promoted to the rank of Brigadier he was serving as Chief of Staff of the Army, when, in 1962, an attempted military coup took place. The following year the then army commander was forced to retire and Colonel A.R. Udugama was appointed as army commander, by passing the more senior Brigadier Heyn, even though Heyn wasn't involved in the coup. It was a purely political move, as Udugama was a Sinhala-Buddhist and related to the then Prime Minister. On 11 November 1966 Heyn was appointed Commander of the Ceylon Army and promoted to the rank of Major General. He held the post till his retirement on 30 September 1967.

For wartime service, Heyn had earned the War Medal 1939–1945, and for service in the Ceylon Army, he received the Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal, the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal and the Ceylon Armed Services Inauguration Medal.

Later life

In his later years he managed the Sri Lanka cricket team and served as the head of the Cricket Board, as well as on the Sri Lanka Olympic Council.

In 1990, the Government of Sri Lanka awarded Heyn the title of Desabandu, the third highest Sri Lankan national honour, for meritorious service.

Family

General Heyn and his wife Edna had two sons, Richard and David. Richard represented Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) at Field Hockey and played Cricket at top-grade club level. David represented Sri Lanka at Cricket and played Field Hockey at top-grade club level.

External links

• www.army.lk
• B.R.Heyn: The man who caught the ‘Don’, An officer and a gentleman, By Bhahi Sampanthan
• Parade Commander Major B.R. Heyn, CLI
• Great win for Havielocks

Military offices
Preceded by Richard Udugama	Commander of the Sri Lankan Army 1966 - 1967	Succeeded by D. S. Attygalle