Richard Udugama Major General Deshamanya Alexander Richard Udugama , MBE , psc , CSR ( 11 November 1911 – 14 May 1995 ) was a Sri Lankan military leader , politician and diplomat . Former Commander of the Ceylon Army ( 1964 – 1966 ) , he was elected as Member of Parliament for Matale in 1970 and served as Sri Lankan Ambassador to Iraq from 1979 to 1982 . He was accused of an alleged coup d ' état in 1966 . Early life . He was born on 11 November 1911 in Matale to a rich family , who claimed to be linked to the Uva Rebellion . Educated at Trinity College , Kandy and won the The Trinity Lion . Military career . With the out break of World War II , he joined the Ceylon Defence Force and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Ceylon Light Infantry in 1940 . Thereafter he was posted to the 1st , 3rd and 4th Battalions of the Ceylon Light Infantry and undertook several infantry courses in Ceylon and India . He was promoted to the rank of Captain on 1 January 1943 . In November 1943 , he was transferred to the British 14thh Army operating in Burma Campaign . During this time he served with the 7 / 2nd Punjab Regiment in the Arakan area , on the eastern side of Mayu Range . At this point he was captured Japanese and held in a POW camp until the end of the war in 1945 . For his war service he was awarded the Burma Star , the Defence Medal and the War Medal 1939 – 1945 . After the war , he was demobilized and became a planter . However he joined the new Ceylon Army when it was established in 1949 as a regular officer with the rank of Major . By the early 1960s he had reached the rank of Colonel and was attached to the Ceylon Sinha Regiment as its commanding officer and was stationed in Jaffna as Commanding Officer , Troops Jaffna . There he was noted for breaking up a protest organized by the Federal Party . Following the 1962 attempt coup d ' état he was brought back to Colombo and appointed Commander of the Ceylon Army in 1964 , by passing seven more senior officers after Major General H . W . G . Wijeyekoon had to retired in 1963 . He was the first Sinhala - Buddhist Army Commander with the rank of Brigadier . Arrest . Major General Udugama was recalled while on an official tour in Europe , and arrested on his arrival at the Bandaranaike International Airport . He was arrested on the charges of plotting a coup against the government of Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake in what was known as the " Bathroom coup " . He was held at the Welikada Prison for three years as the trial took place and the Supreme Court found him not guilty and acquitted him of all charges . His councils were Neville Samarakoon , QC and Tissa Wijeyeratne . Later years . Following his acquittal he contested the Matale seat from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and was elected as a Member of Parliament which he held till 1977 . By the late 1970s be came a supporter of the United National Party and in 1979 he was appointed as Sri Lankan Ambassador to Iraq until 1982 . The government of Sri Lanka bestowed the title of Deshamanya and on his death in 1995 a State funeral was granted with full Military honours . Family . General Udugama married Rita Nugawela Kumarihamy , daughter of Tikiri Banda Nugawela Rate Mahatmaya of Udu Nuwara and sister of Colonel Allan Nugawela . They had a son and a daughter .