Footprints Across The Sky (2026)

The Choice

He saved four aircraft that night. But he still remembers the sound of his daughter crying.

This is not a story about victory in the usual sense.

It is the memory of a Sri Lanka Air Force avionics officer who left his home before dawn, with his infant daughter crying behind him, and ran toward a burning hangar under attack.

Inside the hangar were Kfir fighter aircraft - fueled, exposed, and in danger of being lost. In the dark, surrounded by smoke, gunfire, and aviation fuel, Hemasiri and his men pulled four aircraft out by hand.

They did not have time to feel brave.

They only had time to act.

Story snapshot

A night of fire, fuel, and impossible choices

On 24 July 2001, militants attacked Sri Lanka's main international airport and adjoining air force base.

For Hemasiri Wijayagunawardane, the attack did not begin as a headline. It began outside his own home.

He heard sharp popping sounds in the dark. At first, they sounded ordinary. Then they continued. The sky changed color. The sound grew heavier. Gunfire. Rocket-propelled grenades. Smoke. Aviation fuel.

His home was only meters from the air force hangar.

His wife and daughter were inside.

His men were outside.

The hangar was burning.

And the aircraft had to be moved before it was too late.

Inside this book card

What readers will find inside

“It is not bravery. Not in the way people use the word. It is something simpler. When the moment comes, you do what needs to be done. You just act.”

From Hemasiri Wijayagunawardane's first-hand memory of the 24 July 2001 airport attack.

Collector value

Why this AngryPages card matters

Some stories are collected because they are rare.

Others are collected because they are impossible to forget.

This exclusive AngryPages book card preserves a first-hand account from one of Sri Lanka's most dramatic aviation-war nights. It is a compact historical memory built around one unforgettable moral image:

A father running from the sound of his child crying - toward fire, fuel, and duty.

• Card type: Exclusive AngryPages Book Card
• Theme: Aviation, war memory, Sri Lanka, duty, survival

Author bio

Hemasiri Wijayagunawardane

Hemasiri Wijayagunawardane is a former Avionics Officer in the Sri Lanka Air Force who served with No. 10 Squadron during the conflict.

He was present during the attack on Bandaranaike International Airport on 24 July 2001.

His memory of that night is not told as a victory speech. It is told as something quieter: a record of fear, responsibility, survival, and the private cost of duty.

He now lives in Sri Lanka.

The aircraft were saved. The memory stayed.

By morning, the hangar was damaged. One aircraft had burned. Others were scarred. Men had been wounded. The airfield was littered with shell casings, torn metal, and smoke.

But four aircraft had been pulled out.

A squadron had been preserved.

And a father had survived with a memory he still cannot easily explain.

He did not look back when he left his house.

His daughter was crying.

She would never remember.

He would never forget.

Inside Footprints Across The Sky