Lieutenant-Colonel R.G.P. Besley
7th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry

In a letter home he stated he had had a piece of metal through the thigh but that an operation had been performed and the surgeon had told him he thought in course of time the use of the leg would be fully restored.

(Somerset County Herald and Taunton Courier, 15 Jul 1944, 4)

Born on 2 March 1906 in Worcester, Worcestershire, Reginald George Payne Besley was a rugby footballer and director of a textile firm in Taunton, Somerset. A Territorial Army major in the 5th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, Besley enlisted for active service in September 1939. He became second-in-command for the 7th Battalion, which he assumed command of in January 1943.

The battalion deployed to France with the 43rd Wessex Division in late June 1944. With the breakout operations well underway, the 7th Somersets quickly confronted the danger and attrition of hard fighting in Normandy. On 3 July, Besley was wounded by mortar bomb which also killed his batman. He was evacuated and replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel G.C.P. Lance who was killed within days, and his replacement would also be killed almost immediately.

In 1946, Besley was awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire and returned to his civilian career in manufacturing. He retired as chairman of the company in 1974. Besley died in Somerset on 7 September 2004 at the age of ninety-eight.