William L. Bill Beigel, M.A., is a historian, speaker, author, and researcher, specializing U.S. military service records from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam Wars. Bill s book describing the Return of the World War II Dead Program of the United States is his first published book. His research work is referenced in a number of books and publications, notably, Youth, the First Victim of War, by Paul Edlund, the sole survivor from a downed B-24 crew. He also publishes a blog with stories and photos of the heroic men and women he researches. Bill learned first-hand the difficulty of learning about the lives, deaths, and military experiences of World War II veterans and casualties, when it took nearly a year to research a member of his own family in 1999. Families rarely knew what happened to their loved ones who served or died in World War II, and for most families, those questions remain unanswered to this day. As a lover of both history and research, Bill set out to assist other WWII veterans families in finding the answers to their own unsolved family mysteries. To date, Bill has researched more than two thousand veterans and casualties for well over a thousand individuals, families, communities, and institutions in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Almost weekly, Bill receives emails from clients describing how his research has impacted their families. Bill s work has been featured in numerous television, radio, newspaper, and online media outlets, including Fox News, CBS News, USA Today, and The New York Times, as well as print and online history magazines. Bill tours the country, lecturing and offering workshops at conferences, museums, schools, for genealogy groups, and at other venues. Bill donated a large collection of his research on members of the 8th Air Force to the American Air Museum in Duxford, England. He spent more than ten years researching nearly three hundred students and alumni from his alma mater, UCLA, who were killed in WWII. He is the official researcher for the Kwajalein MIA Project, which seeks to locate missing members of the US Navy during WWII who crashed in the Kwajalein Atoll so that their remains can be brought home. Bill Beigel holds a BA in History and a Masters in Geography, both from UCLA. He lives in Redondo Beach with his wife, Dawn, his college sweetheart. Bill and Dawn have successfully raised to fabulous humans a son and a daughter. For more information, please visit ww2research.com. To book Bill as a speaker for your conference or event, write to speaker@ww2research.com.
