'Almost Forgotten' Remembers Area Soldiers

The author of Almost Forgotten, Joseph Oyler, will be launching a series of local book signings around Bridgeville beginning next week. The review of Oyler's new book is below the list of book signing dates.

• Feb. 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the

• Feb. 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at on Washington Avenue in Bridgeville

•  Feb. 27th at 1:30 p.m. at the Bridgeville Historical Society Meeting at the

Although Joseph Oyler was never in the military, the Scott Township resident has spent the last six years of his life researching the names and stories of local men and women who died while serving our country.

His newly-released book, Almost Forgotten, tells the stories of 107 veterans from the Bridgeville and South Fayette area dating as far back as the Civil War and continuing through Vietnam and a few Cold War accidents. The book presents many interesting details and emotional stories as well as the author’s research journey pulling this all together.

“I remember neighbors dying in World War II and Korea,” said Oyler, who grew up in Bridgeville.

Oyler began this project for Bethany Presbyterian Church in Bridgeville to recognize church members who were veterans on Memorial Day. With a list of 35 back in 2004, Oyler’s research led him to find more veterans from the area, some of them with no connection to the church, such as Alexander Asti who perished on the USS Juneau along with the five Sullivan brothers from Iowa.  

“That’s when it struck me (in 2005) that I needed to commemorate everyone from our area who perished while serving our country,” he said.

Early articles on Oyler’s research created quite a response from people in the area and they contacted him with more names and details for his book. Support from the Bridgeville and South Fayette historical societies also generated additional leads and his list of local soldiers grew to more than 100.

When the feedback dwindled last year and research didn’t lead to any more names, he knew he was ready to complete this project.

“I just hope that I haven’t missed anyone,” he said.

Almost Forgotten presents the stories of veterans chronologically by conflict and alphabetically within each. There’s also a list in the beginning with a summary containing the military branch, date of death, family members and local information.

The inspiration for the book’s title hit him after he had visited the home of the sisters of John Fabeck, a navy veteran of WWII, and realized that after 63 years they still had not forgotten their brother. But many local people never knew of his story, and Oyler’s book has already inspired other family members to reconnect with their history.

Oyler also tells the story of Amos Jones and how his plane went down in Iceland in 1953, but his body wasn’t recovered until 1981 when the glacier began to melt. His brother, Gary, went to visit the crash site three years ago and was able to talk to a man who was on the original rescue mission in 1953 and later recovered the bodies in 1981.

Oyler self-published his book through Author House and served as the editor as well. He plans to donate his proceeds from the book sales to the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund to benefit the children of men and women who lost their lives or were permanently injured while serving our country.

Taking thousands of man-hours to complete, he noted that the research and writing of this book was the best experience of his life.

“But it’s not about me," he said. "I just want people to remember these men.”