Second World War Veteran Bill Wright's Duplex Drive swimming Sherman Tank that he crewed to cross the Rhine River is now preserved at the Tank Museum Bovington, England. At the age of 19, Radio Operator, Bill Wright from B Squadron, of the Staffordshire Yeomanry, embarked on his first action of the Second World War. He and the rest of his crew landed on Sword Beach, at 10.30am in a Sherman tank prepared for deep wading. Bill remembered 'We were conscious we were making history'.
Having survived the Normandy battles, Bill returned to England with his regiment to train on Duplex Drive Sherman Tanks at Fritton Lake, near Great Yarmouth. In October 1944 he took part in the amphibious landing on South Beveland in the Scheldt estuary, which opened up the port of Antwerp to Allied shipping. This involved a 'swim' of seven miles in the open estuary, a record for DD tanks which still stands.
His last major action was the Rhine crossing in March 1945, again in a Sherman DD.