A LETTER to World War I historian Charles Bean has highlighted just how humble Albert Borella was in the face of enemy fire.
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The six-page handwritten letter was found in research for a biography, "Next to Impossible" The remarkable life of Albert Charles Borella VC, which was launched in Albury on Friday.
Borella's son Rowan Borella was amazed to read the 1938 letter which tells of his father's time at Villers-Bretonneux which resulted in a Victoria Cross.
Borella tells of his skirmish in a matter-of-fact manner, which Mr Borella described as the "understatement of the century".
"We first met opposition at the western end of the mound, here was where the machine-gun was located," Borella wrote to Bean.
"This being overcome without great difficulty we pushed on along the mound."
Biographer Brad Chalmers said the letter had "never seen the light of day" before he found it in the Australian War Memorial collection.
He said Borella would have been responding to Bean's research which formed the basis of his epic six-volume Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918.
"Being a humble guy he would give the basic facts without embroidering too much on it," Mr Chalmers said of his relative.
"That was typical of the bloke."
Mr Borella said the depth of the letter was insightful.
"Dad never told me about the war and here he was responding in detail about something that happened – 20 years after the war," Mr Borella said.
Albury deputy mayor Ross Jackson launched the biography of Borella who lived in the Border city from 1945 until his death in 1968.
Yesterday was the 97th anniversary of the confrontation which led to him becoming Australia's oldest recipient of a VC during World War I.
Mr Borella said he was pleased a biography had finally been written, but doubted his father would be fussed.
"He would think that he's just an ordinary bloke and there wasn't any reason for this sort of thing," Mr Borella said.
