Ronald Ernest Osborn was the son of Thomas and May Osborn and the husband of Vera Osborn. He enlisted in the Royal Sussex Regiment, and volunteered for airborne forces.

Staff/Sergeant Osborn successfully completed Glider Pilot training and was posted to A Squadron, The Glider Pilot Regiment, and took part in Operation Market Garden (Arnhem).

S/Sgt Osborn was the pilot of a Horsa glider carrying a Polish anti-tank crew. It was shot down by Flak, and crashed west of Sint-Michielsgestel. He was buried, along with his co-pilot, Sgt Norman Whitehouse, and the two Polish soldiers, Ognm. Piotr Maslorz and Kan. Kazimierz Nowak, in the Roman Catholic section of the General Cemetery at Sint-Michielsgestel. Killed in action on 19 September 1944, aged 26.

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