Peter Harold Wright

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title: "Peter Harold Wright" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1916-births", "1990-deaths", "burials-in-suffolk", "british-army-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "british-army-recipients-of-the-victoria-cross", "british-world-war-ii-recipients-of-the-victoria-cross", "coldstream-guards-soldiers", "20th-century-english-farmers", "people-from-suffolk-coastal-(district)", "people-from-waveney-district", "military-personnel-from-suffolk"] description: "Recipient of the Victoria Cross (1916–1990)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Harold_Wright" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Recipient of the Victoria Cross (1916–1990) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox military person"]

Field	Value
name	Peter Harold Wright
image	Peter Harold Wright.jpg
caption	Peter Harold Wright, pictured here in 1945.
birth_date
death_date
birth_place	Mettingham, Suffolk, England
death_place	Ipswich, Suffolk, England
placeofburial	All Saints Churchyard, Ashbocking, Suffolk, England
allegiance	United Kingdom
branch
serviceyears	1936–1945
rank	Company Sergeant Major
servicenumber	2657545
unit	Coldstream Guards
battles	Second World War
awards	Victoria Cross
laterwork	Farmer
::

|name= Peter Harold Wright |image= Peter Harold Wright.jpg |image_size= |alt= |caption= Peter Harold Wright, pictured here in 1945. |birth_date= |death_date= |birth_place= Mettingham, Suffolk, England |death_place= Ipswich, Suffolk, England |placeofburial= All Saints Churchyard, Ashbocking, Suffolk, England |nickname= |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= |serviceyears= 1936–1945 |rank= Company Sergeant Major |servicenumber= 2657545 |unit= Coldstream Guards |commands= |battles= Second World War |awards= Victoria Cross |relations= |laterwork= Farmer Company Sergeant Major Peter Harold Wright VC (10 August 1916 – 5 April 1990) was a British Army soldier and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Early life and military career

Peter Harold Wright was born in Mettingham, near Bungay in Suffolk on 10 August 1916, during the First World War. Until the age of 20, he worked on his father's farm but decided to join the Coldstream Guards, one of the oldest regiments in the British Army. He served with the 3rd Battalion of his regiment.

VC citation

Wright was 27 years old, and a company sergeant major in the 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, British Army during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 25 September 1943 near Salerno, Italy, a steep, wooded hill was being assaulted by the 3rd Bn. Coldstream Guards, and Company Sergeant Major Wright's company, most of its officers killed, was held up near the crest. Sergeant Major Wright took charge and single-handed he silenced with grenades and bayonet three Spandau posts and then led his men to consolidate the position. He then beat off a counter-attack, and disregarding the heavy fire, brought up extra ammunition.

Wright's Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) was substituted for the VC on the instructions of King George VI.

After the war

Wright retired from the army in 1945 and in the following year he married Mollie Hurren from Wenhaston, Suffolk. Together they farmed Church Farm at nearby Blythburgh.

Peter Harold Wright died in Ipswich, Suffolk on 5 April 1990, at the age of 73, and is buried in the village churchyard of All Saints at Ashbocking, also in Suffolk.

References

• British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997)
• Monuments To Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
• The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)

References

1. "Peter H Wright VC - victoriacross".
2. {{London Gazette. (5 September 1944)
3. "Home Page".
4. "Peter H Wright VC - victoriacross".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::