Staff Sergeant William Dean Bentley, 47, of Elizabethtown, Hardin County, died while on active duty for training at Fort Knox on 24 March 1992. Bentley suffered a cardiac arrest while training at the Kentucky Military Academy's Non-Commissioned Officer Academy. He was participating in the Primary Leadership Development Course (PLDC) on a field problem. 

Immediate aid was rendered by members of the 475th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) and Emergency Room Staff members from Ireland Army Hospital who were also participating in PLDC with him, but they were unable to revive him. 

Bentley was a member of Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 138th Field Artillery in Elizabethtown serving as a Section Chief.  Bentley was a native of Knott County and graduated from East Hardin High School. Bentley served on active duty with the U. S. Army from August 1965 to August 1967.  He joined the Kentucky National Guard in February 1975 and served as Howitzer Section Chief and Section Chief with B Battery. 

His awards and decorations include: National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Kentucky State Active Duty Ribbon, Kentucky Commendation Ribbon with 3 oak leaf clusters and the Kentucky Service Ribbon.  In his civilian life, Bentley was a furnace operator for Crucible Steel for 24 years.

Bentley is buried in the Elizabethtown Memorial Gardens in Hardin County.