Gratien Fernando
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2008-06-12T07:51:22Z
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{{Infobox Military Person
|name=Gratien Fernando
|lived= [[1915]] - [[5 August]], [[1942]]
|placeofbirth=[[Colombo]], [[Ceylon]]
|placeofdeath=[[Welikada Prison]], [[Colombo]], [[Ceylon]]
|death_cause=executed
|resting_place=[[Kanatte cemetery]], [[Borella]]
|image=
|caption=
|known_for=[[Cocos Island Mutiny]]
|nickname=
|allegiance= {{flagicon|Sri Lanka}} [[Sri Lanka]]
|serviceyears=
|rank=[[Bombardier (rank)|Bombardier]]
|branch= [[Ceylon Defence Force]]
|commands=
|unit= [[Ceylon Garrison Artillery]]
|battles=[[World War 2]]
|awards=
|laterwork=
|religion=[[Roman Catholic]]
}}
[[Bombardier (rank)|Bombardier]] '''Gratien Fernando''' [[CGA]] ([[1915]] – [[5 August]], [[1942]]) was the leader of the [[Cocos Islands Mutiny]], an agitator for the freedom of [[Sri Lanka]] from the [[British Empire|British]] and a hero of the [[Sri Lanka Independence Struggle]].
Wathumullage Gratien Hubert Fernando was born to [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]] [[Buddhist]] parents. His father was a superintendent at the Ceylon Telegraph Office.
He went to school at [[St Thomas' College|St Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia]]. He was later converted to [[Roman Catholicism]]. He was impressed by the program of the [[Lanka Sama Samaja Party]] and by the [[anti-imperialist]] literature which it circulated.
He was very much an [[anti-racist]] in his attitude and at the beginning of the [[Second World War]] joined the [[Ceylon Garrison Artillery]] in order to fight [[fascism]]. He was shipped off with his unit first to the [[Seychelles]] and later to [[Horsburgh Island]] in the [[Cocos Islands]].
Here, he argued with his officers and agitated for action among his colleagues: his agenda was the opening of the battle against British colonialism. He finally persuaded a core group to rebel, seize the island and signal the [[Japan]]ese that they had done so.
On the night of [[8 May|8]]/[[9 May]], led by Fernando, men of the unit mutinied. However, their plan failed and the rebellion was suppressed the next day. The leaders of the [[mutiny]] were [[court-martial]]ed and condemned within a week.
Fernando’s father petitioned the army authorities to commute the death penalty and asked Sir [[Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke]], the Civil Defence Commissioner, to intercede with Admiral Sir [[Geoffrey Layton]], the British Commander of [[Ceylon]]. However, when Layton interviewed Fernando, he was adamant that he did not wish to be reprieved or pardoned. He told his family 'I’ll never ask a pardon from the British: that would disgrace the cause. Many years hence the World may hear my story'.
He was executed on [[4 August]] [[1942]] at [[Welikada Prison]], Ceylon, and two other mutineers shortly thereafter. They were the only [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]] troops to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War. Fernando showed defiance to the end, his last words being ‘Loyalty to a country under the heel of a white man is disloyalty’. He was buried at the [[Kanatte cemetery]], [[Borella]] in an unmarked grave.
== References ==
*Noel Crusz, The Cocos Islands Mutiny, Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2001.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernando, Gratien}}
[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:Sri Lankan people|Fernando, Gratien]]
[[Category:Sri Lankan independence activists|Fernando, Gratien]]
[[Category:Sri Lankan Roman Catholics|Fernando]]
[[Category:Ceylonese military personnel]]
[[Category:Military discipline and World War II]]
[[Category:People executed by firing squad]]
[[Category:Executed military personnel]]
[[Category:Cocos (Keeling) Islands]]