In early March of 2021, I had the opportunity to interview Lower Dauphin High School’s Guidance Counselor, Nate Espenshade, the person who I refer to as the keeper of The Wall.  I put together some questions that I had for Nate, because when I took on this task of creating the LDAA Website, I knew that there would be a tab for this very touching and wonderful gift that has been given to our High School, all by the students who attended here.  Please read below how The Wall of Heroes came to be. 

 

How and when did this idea come about? 

 It was started around 2004.  I really wanted to do something to recognize the LD graduates who served our country through military service.  It started out with small American flags that we printed out.  Their names were written on the flags and we also included their rank and where they were stationed.  These things frequently changed as they received promotions and new assignments to them to new locations.  We decided to simplify that information to include things that would not change (Name, Military Branch, Grad Year).

 

 Whose idea was it to put up the wall of Heroes? 

Miss Alexandra Sassaman, a 2018 Lower Dauphin graduate, had a vision to commemorate the military graduates of Lower Dauphin.  She was informed about the wooden plaques on the wall outside the high school cafeteria, however, they were extremely outdated and very hard to read.  They did not stand out, like in the vision for the project that she was set out to accomplish. 

 

What made you think of doing something like this amazing tribute?

I have tremendous respect for the men and women who served our country.  We wanted to do something to honor them.

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When was the wall assembled and put up?  

The original wall with paper flags would have been 2004.  We updated the wall with wooden plaques and metal name plates in 2009.  The wall was updated again in 2018 with a large picture (picture attached), and we must recognize some of the many volunteers who helped with this very large endeavor. 

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Alexandra Sassaman - 2018 Lower Dauphin Graduate, who's vision of this project with the help of the others listed below, came to fruition. 

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Lynn Sassaman - A Lower Dauphin community member and at the time was LD School Board President.  Lynn was instrumental in constructing and determining the final design, and also helped install the wall. 

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Justin Hanula - High School Principal. Justin approved the entire project, constantly checking in on the progress and was there for the installation of the wall. Mr. Hanula, thank you for your support and encouragement during this entire project. 

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Amanda Mease - Amanda is a teacher at Lower Dauphin and was the brains behind the project fundraising.  She helped Alexandra with getting designs for t-shirts, helped here make order forms, collected all of the money, and helped disperse the t-shirts out of her classroom.

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GW Signs by George and Kelly Williamson -  These are two active members in the Hummelstown and Lower Dauphin Communities. They met with Mr. Espenshade and Alexandra to over the possibilities and ultimately the final design. The entire Wall of Heroes came from their shop, and they also installed the wall 

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Mr. Nathan Espenshade - Guidance Counselor at Lower Dauphin.  He had a crucial role in the beginning concept of a military wall at LD.  Furthermore, he helped with gathering names and updating all the information, so when the wall was installed in 2018, it was up to date at that point. ​

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The latest update really stands out and gets noticed when people are in the building, and now that the Space Force has become an official branch of the military, these names must be added as well. 

 

How many names are on the wall?  

It looks to be roughly around 550. There are currently 520 names on the list.  But that number will hopefully increase as we are given more names.  We want to include every LD graduate who has served.

 

 Are you still looking for LD Military to add?  How do you go about advertising for             it and if someone would like to be added, who do they contact?  

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We are always looking to add names.  We want to include everyone who served.  In 2009 we had a big advertising campaign.  We printed out flyers and displayed them at the local VFW and American Legion.  We tried to get the word and it spread by word of mouth.  We called Veterans who we knew and got a lot of names that way.  I started getting phone calls from past graduates, family members, and friends who wanted to give me names.  Then people came into the school for different events and saw the Wall of Heroes and took pictures.  They posted their pictures on social media or sent them to others and it generated more phone calls and emails.  If anyone wants to submit a name they can contact me through my email at nwespenshade@ldsd.org and share the name (as they want it to appear), military branch, and graduation year.