Church refuses veteran's final wishHolly Ife, Shelley Hodgson...

Church refuses veteran's final wish
Holly Ife, Shelley Hodgson and Kate Rose
02mar05

A CHURCH minister who protested against the Iraqi war has sparked outrage by banning the Australian flag from a war veteran's funeral.

World War II veteran George "Dick" Vipond, 81, died of lung cancer last week.
His family is outraged his church has thwarted the war veteran's last wishes – to have a coffin draped in the Australian flag and an RSL service.

The Rev Wes Campbell, of St John's Uniting Church in Essendon, is standing by his decision to refuse the service at his church.

"I believe the rituals of the church belong within the church building and the RSL service (should be) another event," Dr Campbell said.

Mr Vipond had attended St John's Uniting Church for 40 years.

Dr Campbell, a former social justice spokesman for the Uniting Church of Victoria and Tasmania, is a member of a small group known as Christians For Peace.

He was heavily involved in a series of daily People For Peace vigils outside St Paul's Cathedral in early 2003 denouncing the Iraqi war.

"I've come to a judgment that fundamentally the gospel calls us to be people of peace and that the church is always to seek reconciliation where possible between enemies," he said yesterday.

Dr Campbell said the flag was a powerful symbol of the nation, but it did not belong in a church ceremony.

Mr Vipond's children, Michelle Finch and Mark Vipond, said Dr Campbell's decision was unbelievable.

Ms Finch said: "I was absolutely flabbergasted, I couldn't believe it."

She was married at St John's Church and had her three children baptised there.

Mark Vipond said: "It's completely un-Australian."

Their mother, Gwen, 80, is said to be devastated.

Mr Vipond left Australia at the age of 19 and served in Papua New Guinea from 1942 to 1946.

Victorian RSL president David McLachlan said he was disappointed by the decision.

"The Australian flag is our national symbol. What better place for it than in a church?"

Former Victorian RSL president Bruce Ruxton, a friend of Mr Vipond, said Dr Campbell should be ashamed of himself.

"I often wonder what these reverend gentlemen would have done if the Japanese had landed here in 1942."

Premier Steve Bracks said he was disturbed the minister would impose the ban during such a difficult and sensitive time for the family.

Federal Veterans Affairs Minister Deanne Kelly said it was a "sad day" when the last wishes of a Digger were ignored.

"Veterans Affairs have been looking at alternative arrangements and with the blessing of Major-General Peter Cosgrove, we have been looking at one of the military's chapels."

Australian Funeral Directors Association spokesman Martin Tobin said a flag-draped coffin was not uncommon.

Mr Vipond, a motor mechanic, spent much of his 81 years standing up for veterans' rights.

For the past 20 years, he did voluntary work with veterans and war widows at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital.

The funeral now will be at St Thomas Anglican Church in Essendon, today, with the Australian flag and RSL service.

"We are very grateful to them . . . but that wasn't my father's church," Ms Finch said.

Dr Campbell said he was sad his decision caused pain to the family.

Uniting Church of Victoria and Tasmania moderator the Rev Susan Gormann said she had a great respect for Dr Campbell.

"He only made this decision out of full integrity for his understanding of what it is to be a Christian minister, and I believe I can comfortably sit with that as moderator of this church," she said.