A LIFE-sized bronze statue of Albury’s Victoria Cross winner Albert Borella will be unveiled on November 6.
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The date was revealed yesterday as Peards Nursery owner-manager George Benyon hoisted the Australian flag on a pole outside the Borella Road nursery.
The flagpole is part of a tribute to Captain Borella and fellow Victoria Cross winners.
Albury councillor and Albury RSL sub-branch president Graham Docksey was at the unveiling, which coincided with national flag day.
Mr Benyon and his wife, Debra, have been working on the $200,000-plus memorial statue for more than a year.
The memorial, to be unveiled by Captain Borella’s son Rowan Borella, will consist of the life-sized statue, the Australian flag and a bronze blade and bayonet of a Lee Enfield .303 rifle engraved with the 100 names of Australia’s Victoria Cross recipients.
Mr Benyon said he hoped the parents of Cameron Baird, a VC recipient who died last year, would attend.
Captain Borella served in Egypt, Gallipoli and the Western Front with the 26th Battalion in World War I.
He was awarded the Victoria Cross for “most conspicuous bravery in attack” at Villers-Bretonneux, France, in 1918.
“I feel very proud and very appreciative of George and Debra for helping to put this together,” Mr Borella said.
The memorial will be formally unveiled at 5pm on Thursday, November 6.
Relative Brad Chalmers is writing a biography on Captain Borella.
“We ask anyone in the Albury area who has any knowledge or information on Albert to contact us as soon as possible — we want to finish the book by the unveiling,” he said.
He can be contacted on (03) 5882 5932.