William Keegan

Prepared by the Witnesses of War team

William “Bill” Keegan was born on 1 June 1924 in Slatersville, Rhode Island. Drafted into the U.S. Army in March 1943, he trained as a medic in Louisiana and served with Company B, 78th Armored Medical Battalion, 8th Armored Division, known as the “Thundering Herd.”

As a combat medic and ambulance driver, Keegan evacuated wounded American soldiers during the final months of the war in Europe. Arriving in France in January 1945, he accompanied the division’s advance into Germany. His duties frequently took him forward alongside tank units, transporting casualties through darkness, damaged roads and dangerous conditions.

In spring 1945, his division helped liberate Langenstein-Zwieberge, a concentration camp belonging to the Buchenwald camp system. Keegan transported surviving prisoners to hospital for urgently needed treatment. He served as a Private First Class and received the Bronze Star Medal and Combat Medical Badge for his wartime service.

After Germany’s surrender, Keegan served on occupation duty in Rokycany, western Czechoslovakia, near the American–Soviet demarcation line. His Army service ended in 1946. He married in 1948, worked for many years as a machinist and later settled in Vero Beach, Florida, after living in Connecticut.