Honoring the Fallen
How one local man is working to preserve the memory of Americans who lost their lives during war

When the first nationwide Memorial Day (then called “Decoration Day”) was held in 1868, the notion was to honor the memory of those who specifically died in the Civil War. After World War I, the holiday was expanded to include those who died in any American war or military action.

Scott Township resident Joe Oyler is reminded that, too often, the memory of the fallen is being erased by the passage of time.With that in mind, he started compiling a history of military personnel from South Fayette and Bridgeville who died during military service.Through library and internet research, as well as interviews with surviving relatives and friends, he has gathered the stories of more than 80 local men who served in the military from the Civil War through Vietnam. And that list keeps growing.

“I started this project with the idea of preserving their memories,”Oyler says, recalling a recent interview with the sisters of John Fabeck, a Bridgeville sailor whose ship sank off the coast of Virginia in 1943. “These two ladies have been mourning their brother for 65 years,” he says, “but no one else remembers.This inspired me to complete this project.”

Photo: Charles DeLeuze, of Sturgeon.

The concept evolved during the 2004 Memorial Day worship services of Bethany Presbyterian Church when Oyler commemorated the memories of the members and relatives of members who had lost their lives while serving in the military. Oyler, a retired civil engineer, initiated the project in 2005.

As a child during World War II, Oyler could recall two of his neighbors who died in combat – William Hagerty and Samuel Allender.Three more neighbors and family friends died during military service in the 1950s.

Oyler got started by visiting the war memorial in front of the Bogan-Wolf funeral home on Washington Avenue, and jotting down the names with stars next to them – indicating that they had died during the war.Then he began researching old newspapers and working with friends and family to track downlocal residents who had known the deceased.

Among those who helped was Vito Asti, the son-in-law of Alexander Asti, of Bridgeville, who died when the USS Juneau was sunk during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942.This is the same ship on which the five Sullivan brothers died, causing the Defense Department to adopt the Sole Survivor policy, which protected family members from being drafted for combat duty if they had already lost family members in the service.

“These are emotional interviews that often end up in tears,”Oyler says. “No one has asked about their relatives in years.”

Photo: Andrew Zura, of Treveskyn.

After a story about his efforts was published in a local newspaper, people began contacting Oyler with stories of their friends and relatives who had died at war. It was then he began putting his somewhat informal list into a more organized format that he hopes to eventually publish for posterity.

“I had this list of people and this information kept growing,” he says. “I thought, if I don’t write this down and something happens to me, this is going to be lost. So, I got a crash course in word processing from my son and I started writing out the stories of these people, writing at all hours of the day.”

After uncovering details for most of the Bridgeville names, Oyler recently moved on to the war memorial outside the Cuddy Firehall, which brought a new list of names and stories to be recorded for history’s sake.

“The project keeps growing, but talking to the families keeps me motivated. I’d like to think I’m doing this for the right reasons.”

Joe Oyler is scheduled to give a talk to the Historical Society of South Fayette at 7 p.m. on June 23 at the township meeting room on Millers Run Road. He welcomes assistance in recording the stories of area soldiers who lost their lives at war. Oyler can be reached at josephoyler@msn.com or 412-276-6142.