Bishop pleads for better Army funding at soldier's funeral

A bishop called for more funding and helicopters for the military as he led mourners at the funeral of a young British soldier killed in a gun battle in Afghanistan.

Bishop of Menevia Thomas Burns told the congregation the name of Fusilier Jonathan Burgess, 20, from 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh, would be "etched in the history of the battalion forever" as he said the price of war had been high.

Addressing Fusilier Burgess's friends, family, comrades and pregnant fiancee Kelly Forrest at the Cathedral Church of St Joseph in Convent Street, Greenhill, Swansea, he said: "To our politicians and civil servants, I ask these questions: When will Afghan institutions rise out of the dust to take responsibility for their own affairs?

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"When will there be a surge in funding to achieve this? And the ongoing military support to bring it about, to pay for better military vehicles, more and better helicopters and better intelligence, all of which are so badly needed? If this were done, surely this will mean fewer lives will be sacrificed in the future."

Fusilier Burgess died after being shot in the Nad-e-Ali area of Helmand Province on April 7.

Soldiers just back from Afghanistan were among mourners at the funeral yesterday of a 21-year-old who was blown up while searching for hidden explosive devices.

Rifleman Mark Turner of the 3 Rifles, was killed while at the head of a patrol in Helmand on April 4. Hundreds of mourners were at St John Church in Gateshead Fell, Tyneside, for the service which was held back a day to allow his comrades to attend, after they flew home.

Some of them wept as they left the service where Lieutenant Will Melia said there were "30 men standing in this church as a direct result of his bravery".

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