Ronald Cuthbert Besant

Ronald Cuthbert Besant was a British Royal Air Force warrant officer, service number 580838, whose wartime career is traced through casualty and official award records. His decorations recorded here include the DFC, gazetted on 22 November 1940. The Gazette record confirms that his wartime service had been formally recognised before his death. He died on 11 August 1943, aged 29. He is commemorated or buried at Runnymede Memorial in the United Kingdom. For many RAF casualties the surviving official trail is brief, but the combination of service number, CWGC commemoration and Gazette notices preserves the essentials of his story. Those records show not only the bare fact of his death, but also that his service had been formally recognised during the war itself. His name is therefore carried here with the service details needed to distinguish him from namesakes. This profile therefore keeps to the verifiable outline: who he was, the rank and number under which he served, how his service was honoured, and where he is remembered.