Seville’s most decorated war hero and Victoria Cross (VC) recipient was once again celebrated on Sunday 5 October, with the date also marking a special addition to the treasured Seville War Memorial.
Community members gathered at the memorial to honour Lieutenant George Ingram VC as well as to see the unveiling of two new commemorative bench seats.
Seville War Memorial Committee chair Anthony McAleer OAM said they’ve been very committed to putting across the story of George Ingram post-World War One.
“The courage and the endurance that he showed there, because he was certainly came back a person who was really very affected by his war service…I went back and had a look at all of the Victoria Cross awards that were given to Australians and none is more soaked in blood than George Ingram’s was,” he said.
“On the day, he killed 44 enemy soldiers and more than likely probably looked into their faces at some stage as it was all hand-to-hand combat.. so when he comes home, because he’s won the Victoria Cross and everyone looks at it as a boy’s own adventure and they want to hear the glorious story of how he went and attacked the enemy,”
“But he couldn’t talk about it because it just was too traumatic, brought up all these terrible sort of memories for him and certainly when he came back, he spent a long time trying to adjust.”
Lieutenant Ingram was the last Australian VC recipient from World War One, awarded for his bravery in 1918 on the battlefield in Montbrehain, France.
Mr McAleer said it wasn’t until Lieutenant Ingram became one of the original Shrine Guards in 1934 that he really picked up.
“He was outside, he was walking around, so that helped his health but at the same time, he saw the effect firsthand that the beautiful Shrine of Remembrance had on families that had lost loved ones, the healing aspect of coming along and seeing such a magnificent structure that’s been dedicated to their loved ones and others,” he said.
“It certainly helped him sort of mentally as well, in fact the whole time he was there, he only had about a week off and he never took any sick leave …he was there until he enlisted again in World War Two.”
“I’m pretty sure he was aware that he wouldn’t see action, his job was to clear up a military job here in Australia so that a younger soldier could go overseas and serve and being in the building industry, they put him into the engineers and he served a number of different camps and depots around Victoria and New South Wales during the war years.”
A crowd of between 50 to 60 people visited the memorial for the ceremony including special guests Victorian Liberal Leader Brad Battin, state Evelyn MP Bridget Vallence and federal Casey MP Aaron Violi.
Mr McAleer said the turnout consisted of a good mixture of returning and new community member.
“Seville as a township is quite a dynamic township, there’s a lot of people that have moved in in the last 15 years and certainly for a long time, cheaper housing and stuff like that has attracted a whole new generation of people who don’t have connections to the pioneers of the town,” he said.
“They’ve come to embrace the memorial, they’ve come to embrace the George Ingram story as well and this is something that we were quite keen on, we’ve worked strongly with the schools and we continue to do that by passing the story on,”
“George Ingram always considered Seville to be his home in fact his son told me that that’s why he used to always come back to visit people here, he grew up here and he lived here for a short time when he returned from the war, mainly he’d been living elsewhere, but he still considered it to be his home.”
Casey MP Aaron Violi said the newly installed bench seats at Seville War Memorial provide the Seville and Yarra Valley community with a place to sit and reflect on the sacrifices of those who served, including those who once called Seville home, like George Ingram, VC, MM and his brothers.
“Local war memorials help our community see the human toll of war and remember the sacrifice of those served. When Seville residents visit the War Memorial and these new seats, their minds turn to think about the individuals that grew up in their community, who walked the same streets and went to the same local primary school. It’s a powerful way of honouring their service and never forgetting their sacrifice,” he said.
“We are so fortunate to have community organisations like the Wandin-Seville Community Bank. Their commitment to supporting local projects helps strengthen our community. The Seville War Memorial is a powerful place to reflect on the courage of locals who served and is a credit to the Seville War Memorial Committee and everyone involved at Wandin-Seville Community Bank who supported this project.”
