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What We Do   In The News   Sample Reports   Sample Analysis   World War 2   Korean War   Request a Quote   Research Subject   Database   Testimonials   Contact Us		Bill Beigel In The News KCET-TV – Life & Times Transcript 12/12/06 Coverage of Town Hall Los Angeles speakers on Life and Times is made possible by a grant from the Boeing Company. Val Zavala>> He runs his business out of his kitchen and he gets a boost now and then from Hollywood whenever a big war picture comes out like "Flags of Our Fathers" or "Letters From Iwo Jima". Why is that? Because, as you'll see, Bill Beigel is an expert at solving military mysteries. Inside this modest home in Torrance, a detective of sorts is hard at work. Bill Beigel>> Okay, we've got a number of names that come up here. Some of the sources are from people that are relatives of these guys. Val Zavala>> Wedged into a small breakfast nook between the family calendar and the microwave, William Beigel types away at a computer. Bill Beigel>> And this would give me a lot more information. It will give me a serial number on top, state entered from the service, his rank, his unit, which was the 121st Calvary Reconnaissance Squad, and the date that he disappeared, which was August 2, 1944. Val Zavala>> He's digging for very personal information on complete strangers. Bill Beigel>> He was killed in action down in Cook County, so he was probably from the Chicago area. What I do is find out records regarding people that served in World War II and Korea and specifically the people that were wounded or killed or made prisoners of war. One of the reasons I do that is because that kind of information was just not available back when it was happening. Val Zavala>> What do you mean? You mean precisely what happened to them? Bill Beigel>> Right. An example would be that somebody would be shot down and, three weeks later, mom and dad or brother or sister would get a telegram saying, "Your son, Johnnie Wilson, is missing in action over Germany July 15, 1943. Further details may be provided." Typically, the further details would be either he's now a prisoner of war or we have determined that he is dead, and that would typically be all they would get. Val Zavala>> That's because they didn't want to compromise military strategy. Bill Beigel>> The other reason, of course, is that the scope of the casualties was tremendous. There were over a million American casualties in World War II between killed, missing and POWs, so the two things put together made it very difficult. "94th Bomb Group? Shot down January 11, 1944." Val Zavala>> But Bill Beigel has learned how to navigate through the massive national archives and work through the maze of military records. He knows the structure of the Armed Services and the right questions to ask. It all started about fifteen years ago with a gap in his own family's history, a gap he wanted to fill. Bill Beigel>> My father grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He had a cousin that grew up in the same home with him. His cousin was a gunner on a B-17 heavy bomber that disappeared over the Atlantic and nobody ever knew what the cause was or ever heard another word from my father's cousin or anybody else on the crew. Val Zavala>> After a few months of research, Bill found out that the cousin's flight crew was sent on a mission to Germany during a freak hail storm. Sending planes up during bad weather was against military policy. Bill Beigel>> However, the base commander in Newfoundland said these planes got to go. So it turned out that eight or nine planes left that day, three of which, not just my father's cousin's plane, but two others disappeared because of weather. Val Zavala>> From then on, Bill was hooked. Now he's helped more than five hundred clients learn the details of their loved one's death or injury, details that many vets have never talked about. Bill Beigel>> I just got done doing some work for a woman whose husband was shot down and survived the war, but would never tell his wife or kids about what happened. I find that time and time and time again. They just don't want to talk about it. Val Zavala>> Really? Bill Beigel>> Yeah. All the time. It's almost the default position of a lot of these guys is to be humble or reticent. They just don't want to talk about it. Val Zavala>> Some cases are tougher than others. Often people have varied or incorrect clues to go on. Bill Beigel>> For example, they say Battle of the Bulge, December 24, 1945, which is actually a year after the Battle of the Bulge. Val Zavala>> Oh, so they got that wrong. Bill Beigel>> So they did, but that's a typical mistake. Val Zavala>> But Bill, like a Marine on a mission, works through mistakes keeping track of the cases, often waiting months for answers from the military records division. But when he gets the answers he's looking for, it's like striking a target. Bill Beigel>> This is a crew of a B-24 flying out of Italy. The guys on this crew actually were out in an olive orchard the day before they went on their last mission. What was interesting and what made this a real research challenge is that when the plane crashed, it went down over Bulgaria which, right after World War II, became a soviet satellite. So their remains were stuck in an area that was very difficult for Americans to get into. They eventually did, but it took until about six years after the war before they were able to get in there and identify the remains of these guys. Val Zavala>> Paul Edlund was the only survivor. That day, he was stuck in a hospital bed wounded, so he didn't join his crew on that fateful day. After research help from Bill, Paul wrote a book. Bill Beigel>> He was very courteous to thank me like he did in this book too. Val Zavala>> Bill has a regular job. He does this on nights and weekends. And how much does it cost? Bill Beigel>> My work typically is one hundred to two hundred dollars for most people. Val Zavala>> But, he says, the best feeling comes from letters like this one. Bill Beigel>> This is awesome. We kept reading and rereading each page to take it all in. "We knew Robert Miller enlisted before the war, but didn't know when. It was the defining of death report that showed us." Val Zavala>> That must be so satisfying to get these. Bill Beigel>> It's incredibly satisfying for me. Every time I read one of these, I get chills. I share them with my wife and it's always a nice experience for her too. Val Zavala>> Now are there ever things that you don't tell the families? You have to use your discretion? Bill Beigel>> I get information on occasion that I can tell will be disserving to families. When I get that, I advise them in advance that, when you read this particular part of the report, know that it's going to be something that may be upsetting to you for whatever reason. Val Zavala>> Like it could be an especially gruesome death? Bill Beigel>> It could be an especially gruesome death or it could be a death that is not as -- Val Zavala>> -- honorable? Bill Beigel>> Honorable or as expected as it might be. That doesn't happen much, but it does come up. Val Zavala>> And sometimes the client will end up telling Bill things they'd never told anyone before. One of his clients was a soldier in Germany toward the end of the war. He was assigned to guard a bridge. Bill Beigel>> He said, "Our orders were not to allow anybody to come across the river, no matter what. So one day in broad daylight, a German woman and about ten other Germans started to try to wade across this river. We had a German interpreter who said, "You got to go back. You may not cross this river." They kept coming. Our orders were to fire into the air two or three times and make them stop. A couple of them turned back and went back, but a couple of them kept coming. We fired again in the water in front of them, you know, twenty yards in front of them, and a couple more turned back, but the woman who was leading them kept coming. Bill, I had my orders. I shot that woman coming across the river and I watched her float down the river." By this time, he was really shaking and his eyes were bloodshot. He said, "I've never told anybody that in my life." Val Zavala>> These days, information going to families is much more detailed, so Bill won't have the inquiries from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as he had from World War II or the Korean War. Still, he has plenty to keep himself busy. Bill Beigel>> Four hundred thousand killed, six hundred thousand wounded and around a hundred fifty thousand prisoners of war. Val Zavala>> Bill says that he can't wait to retire. Then he'll be able to do this full-time, discovering stories that give families a deeper respect and understanding for the beloved fathers, grandfathers, uncles and husbands whose secrets have been hidden for decades. If you'd like to reach Bill Beigel, you can go to his website at www2research.com. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by L.K. Whittier Foundation
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