Peter Harold Wright

Peter Harold Wright was born on 10 August 1916 in the village of Mettingham, near Bungay, Suffolk, to James Gordon Wright, an agricultural farmer, and Florence Helen Easter. Raised within a large family of fourteen siblings, he received his formal education at the local village schools in Brooke and Woodton before returning to assist on his father’s farm. Though he initially considered entering the police force, he instead enlisted in the British Army on 7 October 1936, joining the Coldstream Guards. By April 1937, he was posted to the 3rd Battalion, securing an early promotion to Lance Corporal in August of that year. Between November 1937 and April 1939, his battalion deployed to Egypt and then to Mandatory Palestine. The latter deployment coincided with the Arab Revolt, exposing the young non-commissioned officer to the rigours of counter-insurgency patrols and skirmishes in a harsh operational environment, service which qualified him for the General Service Medal 1918–1962 with the ‘Palestine’ clasp.

When the Second World War commenced in September 1939, Wright was stationed in Alexandria, Egypt, holding the rank of Acting Lance Sergeant. The 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards was integrated into the 22nd Guards Brigade—later redesignated the 201st Guards Brigade—which functioned as a highly disciplined motorised infantry formation supporting armoured thrusts across the Western Desert. Wright advanced to the rank of Sergeant by early 1942. During the Battle of Gazala in May 1942, the 201st Guards Brigade was tasked with defending the Knightsbridge Box, a heavily fortified position designed to anchor the Eighth Army’s defensive line against advancing Axis armour. Amid relentless artillery bombardments, Wright sustained a wound above his right eye and was evacuated to a hospital in Tobruk. This injury inadvertently spared him the fate of many within his brigade, a significant portion of whom were captured weeks later when the Tobruk garrison collapsed and surrendered on 21 June 1942.

Following two months of medical recuperation, Wright rejoined the reconstituted 3rd Battalion, subsequently earning promotion to Warrant Officer Class II and assuming the role of Company Sergeant Major. In September 1943, the 201st Guards Brigade, operating under the 56th (London) Infantry Division, deployed to the Italian mainland as part of the Allied invasion at Salerno. The landings met fierce German resistance, and on 25 September 1943, the division attempted to break out of the established bridgehead, advancing north towards Baronissi and Avellino. The 3rd Battalion was ordered to capture Point 270, a steep, heavily wooded elevation known as the Pagliarolli feature. The assault deteriorated rapidly as the right-hand company approached the crest. Concentrated fire from German Spandau machine guns and mortars pinned the infantry down, inflicting severe casualties and eliminating the company’s entire complement of officers.

Observing the stalled advance and realising the command vacuum, Company Sergeant Major Wright immediately moved forward and assumed control of the fractured company. He initiated a solo reconnaissance crawl up the incline to pinpoint the source of the suppression fire, identifying three separate Spandau emplacements holding the high ground. Returning to his men, Wright deployed a section to establish a base of covering fire. Without waiting for further reinforcement, he executed a single-handed assault on the German positions, systematically attacking and silencing all three machine-gun posts using hand grenades and his bayonet. He directed the remnants of the company to the crest of the hill, but quickly recognised that sustained enemy artillery fire rendered the peak untenable. Demonstrating acute tactical awareness, Wright orchestrated a slight withdrawal down the reverse slope, maneuvering his men to re-assault and consolidate the objective from a protected flank. The company subsequently absorbed and repelled a concerted German counter-attack. Throughout the engagement, the area was subjected to heavy shellfire and enfilading machine-gun fire from adjacent slopes; disregarding the barrage, Wright repeatedly moved through the open to retrieve and distribute critical ammunition supplies, ensuring the battalion maintained its hold on the strategic elevation.

Wright’s actions initially resulted in the award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal, which was gazetted on 27 January 1944. However, the details of the Pagliarolli assault reached King George VI, who reviewed the operational reports while visiting the 15th Army Group in Italy. The monarch concluded that the scale of Wright's solo action warranted the highest military recognition, personally instructing General Sir Harold Alexander to upgrade the decoration. The military hierarchy reassessed the action, cancelled the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and awarded the Victoria Cross, which Wright received from the King at an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 21 September 1944. The full official citation, published in the Second Supplement to The London Gazette of Tuesday, 5th September 1944, reads exactly as follows:

War Office, 7th September, 1944.

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the VICTORIA CROSS to: —

No. 2657545 Warrant Officer Class II (Colour Sergeant-Major) Peter Harold Wright, Coldstream Guards (Wenhaston, Suffolk).

In Italy on the 25th September, 1943, the 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, attacked the Pagliarolli feature, a steep wooded hill near Salerno. Before it reached the crest the right hand company was held up by heavy spandau and mortar fire and all the officers had become casualties. C.S.M. Wright, seeing that his company was held up, went forward to see what could be done. Finding that there were no officers left he immediately took charge and crawled forward by himself to see what the opposition was. He returned with the information that three spandau posts were holding them up. He collected a section and put it into a position where it could give covering fire. Single-handed he then attacked each post in turn with hand grenades and bayonet and silenced each one. He then led the company on to the crest but realised that the enemy fire made this position untenable. C.S.M. Wright therefore led them a short way down the hill and up on to the objective from a different direction.

Entirely regardless of enemy fire, which was very heavy, C.S.M. Wright then re-organised what was left of the company and placed them into position to consolidate the objective. Soon afterwards the enemy launched a counter-attack which was successfully beaten off. Later, with complete disregard of heavy enemy shell-fire on the area of company headquarters and the reverse slopes of the hill and of machine-gun fire from the commanding slopes on the left flank of the position, he brought up extra ammunition and distributed it to the company.

It is due to this Warrant Officer's superb disregard of the enemy's fire, his magnificent leadership and his outstanding heroism throughout the action that his battalion succeeded in capturing and maintaining its hold on this very important objective.

The KING having been graciously pleased to approve the award of the VICTORIA CROSS to C.S.M. Wright, the award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal for the same acts of gallantry, announced in the London Gazette of the 27th January, 1944 (No. 36349), is cancelled.

Following his withdrawal from the Italian theatre, Wright was assigned to a training battalion in the United Kingdom, where he oversaw the detachment responsible for guarding Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Chequers. He retired from the British Army in 1945, returning to agricultural work in Suffolk. He married Mollie Mary Ingate Hurren at St Peter’s Church, Wenhaston, on 5 June 1946, and operated as a tenant farmer on the estate of Lord Tollemache at Helmingham, later farming at Church Farm in Blythburgh. Peter Harold Wright died on 5 April 1990 at Ipswich Hospital and was interred in the churchyard of All Saints, Ashbocking.