Bertram Heyn
Bertram Russell Heyn was a Sri Lankan general and cricketer. He was a former Commander of the Ceylon Army.
Early life and education
Born to Gerald Chetwynd Swartz Heyn and Hylda Heyn, he had nine siblings and was educated at Royal College, Colombo.Cricketing career
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 a one-day 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.Military career
Ceylon Defence Force
He joined the Ceylon Defence Force and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Ceylon Light Infantry in 1940 before its expansion due to World War II. By the end of the war he was a captain and was demobilized in 1946.Ceylon Army
When the Ceylon Army was formed in 1949, he was commissioned as a major in the regular force. From February 1955 to November 1959, he served as the commanding officer of the 1 Battalion, Ceylon Light Infantry having been promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He graduated from the Staff College, Camberley, and the Imperial Defence College.Higher command
Promoted to the rank of colonel he was serving as Chief of Staff of the Army, when, in January 1962, a attempted [military coup in Ceylon, 1962|military coup was attempted] by senior military and police officers. Unaware of the coup, Colonel Heyn was on the list of those to be detained by the troops involved in the coup. With Colonel Maurice de Mel, the Commandant,Ceylon Volunteer Force and Colonel F. C. de Saram, Deputy Commandant; implicated and arrested, Heyn was appointed Commandant, Ceylon Volunteer Force and began restructuring regiments involved in the coup as majority were volunteer regiments. Colonel A.R. Udugama succeeded Heyn as Chief of Staff. In January 1964, when the Army Commander Major General H.W.G. Wijeyekoon was forced to retire, he was succeeded by Colonel Udugama who was below Heyn in the army seniority list. Given that the officers connected to the attempted coup were all Christian, Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike had preferred appointing Udugama over the more senior Heyn, given that the former was a Buddhist and kinsmen from a Kandyan Radala family.