Private Richard Bentley was the son of Richard and Florence Bentley, of Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent.He served with the Royal Artillery prior to volunteering for airborne forces during World War II and qualified as a military parachutist on course 111, which ran at RAF Ringway in April 1944.

He was posted to 11th Parachute Battalion and killed in action later in the year in the Battle of Arnhem, during Operation Market Garden.

Private Bentley died on 20 September 1944, aged 23 years old, and was initially given a field burial in a garden beside Acacialaan. He is now buried at Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, in the Netherlands.