Richard Van de Walle was born on 9 July 1896. He lived and worked in Ostend, Belgium, where he was involved in radio communications at the local airfield. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he fled to England, leaving his family behind. There he joined the resistance and later returned to occupied Belgium as a spy, working for Allied intelligence. After his return, he was arrested by the German occupiers and sentenced to death. He died in captivity on 14 March 1944 in Siegburg, Germany. He was buried at the military cemetery of honour in Bruges. A Stolperstein in Ostend has been proposed to commemorate his courage, resistance work and death in German imprisonment.
