[4] The 1st Battalion of the Special Forces Regiment was tasked with destroying the bund and facilitating the civilians' escape into government-held territory, and the operation was launched on the night of 19 April 2009, from the Ampalavanpokkanai area.

Gamage and his unit managed to cross the lagoon and reach the bund under the cover of darkness without being detected, and assaulted the Tamil Tiger bunkers along it.

Captain Gamage was nominated by General Sarath Fonseka for the Parama Weera Vibhushanaya, Sri Lanka's highest military award for gallantry, for his actions on 19 and 20 April 2009.

Three years later on 16 May 2012, it was announced in The Sri Lanka Gazette by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa that Gamage will be posthumously awarded the medal along with 14 others.

[9] Gamage's Parama Weera Vibhushanaya was presented to his next-of-kin at the Victory-Day celebrations on 19 May 2012 by Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President of Sri Lanka.