Statue to Middlesbrough VC hero Stan Hollis nears completion

The statue will eventually stand 7ft high

A memorial honouring the only soldier to win the Victoria Cross on D-Day is expected to be on show in Middlesbrough by April next year, organisers say.

Stan Hollis was awarded the medal for his actions during the storming of the Normandy beaches on 6 June 1944.

A campaign to have a statute in his honour erected in his home town has raised almost £150,000.

Models of the bronze figure, which will stand 7ft (2m) high, have been unveiled by artist Brian Alabaster.

Middlesbrough Council has already granted planning permission for the memorial, which will also feature plaques commemorating the D-Day beaches of Omaha, Utah, Juno, Gold and Sword, near the cenotaph on Linthorpe Road.

Hollis was a 31-year-old sergeant major with the Green Howards when he took part in the assault on Gold Beach.

As his company moved inland, he captured several gun positions and rescued two colleagues, taking more than two dozen prisoners in the process.

As a result, he was the only one of almost 62,000 British troops to be awarded the Victoria Cross on the day of the World War Two landings.

Brian Bage, chairman of the Stanley E. Hollis VC Memorial Fund, said the models of the statues looked "magnificent".

He said it was hoped the project would be completed by next April.

Mr Alabaster said he had been "immensely honoured" to work on the project.

Hollis was decorated for his actions in the World War Two beach landings