Anton Muttukumaru

Anton Muttukumaru
Major General Anton Muttukumaru
Born	6 July 1908 Ceylon
Died	2001 Australia
Allegiance	Sri Lanka
Service/branch	Ceylon Army
Years of service	1934–1959
Rank	Major General
Unit	Ceylon Light Infantry
Commands held	Commander of the Ceylon Army, Chief of Staff of the Ceylon Army
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Order of the British Empire (Military Division), Efficiency Decoration, War Medal 1939–1945, Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal
Other work	High Commissioner to Australia, Pakistan and Ambassador to Egypt

Major General Anton M. Muttukumaru, OBE, ED, ADC, CLI (6 July 1908 – 2001) was the first Ceylonese Army officer to serve as Commander of the Ceylon Army (now Sri Lankan Army), a post he held from 1955 to 1959. He also served as Ceylon's High Commissioner to Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Ambassador to Egypt.

Born to Dr. Philip Marian Muttukumaru and Mary Mount Carmel Alles, he and his siblings were brought up by their mother after the early death of their father. Educated at home by an English governess and then at St. Joseph's College, Colombo, he then entered Ceylon University College and in 1928, he left for Jesus College, Oxford to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. After completing his degree, he read for the Bar and was called by Gray's Inn to become a Barrister. After returning to Ceylon, he took his oaths as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Ceylon.

After returning from England, in 1934 he joined the Ceylon Defence Force, a part-time reserve force raised by the British to defend the island. Muttukumaru was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Ceylon Light Infantry (CLI) on 11 September 1934. IN 1939 he was mobilized with the rest of the CDF at the outset of World War II. During this time, he would go on to command the CLI Guard at the South East Asia Command headquarters in Kandy and was promoted captain on 29 November 1940 and major in 1942. On 1 November 1943 he was promoted lieutenant colonel and appointed commanding officer, 2nd Battalion CLI, in which appointment he continued to serve until the general demobilization which took place after the War.