Bill flew 75 combat missions in Korea in the C-46 and C-47 after various assignments in Europe, the Pacific, and North Africa during World War II, served as Chief of the Air Force Reserve, board chairman of the American Air Museum in Britain, United States Air Force Academy Research & Development Institution and USAF Falcon Foundation (chairman emeritus), and a director of the Air Force Academy Foundation, and received the United States Air Force Academy Distinguished Service Award. His military decorations include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal (with three oak clusters), and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Distinguished Public Service Medal. In business, Bill built homes for returning veterans and others in California which evolved into William Lyon Homes in Newport Beach, owned AirCal which merged with American Airlines, acquired Martin Aviation and established Lyon Air Museum at John Wayne Airport (home to 7 military warbirds including C-47 Willa Dean), and received numerous entrepreneurship and leadership awards. Philanthropically, he served as board chairman of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts (30-year director), Orangewood Children’s Foundation, Boy Scouts of America Orange County Council, and Alexis de Tocqueville Society of the United Way, on the President’s Cabinet of Chapman University, and at USC as a Lifetime University Trustee and on the board of the Marshall School of Business. Bill resides in Coto de Caza and turned 96 today.