James A. Danner was born September 25, 1887 in Newberrytown, York County.  In 1917 he was living at a York Haven address.

On November 3, 1918 Private Danner was killed in action while serving with the 304th Engineer Regiment, 79th Division. He was among the first of our community’s service members to die in the “Great War”.

His burial plot is D Row 17 Grave 27, Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne, France.

The James A. Danner VFW Post 537 held its first official meeting and was chartered by the Department of Pennsylvania on May 13, 1933. Soon after,  ground-breaking ceremonies were held to build a new Post Home.  We have since moved into a larger building due to membership expansion.

Membership has grown from the original 24 charter members to 1145.

The Auxiliary of Post 537 was instituted as the Ladies Auxiliary at a meeting held in the Post on August 11, 1948.  The Auxiliary has been active in many pursuits through the years and continues to perform meritoriously working side by side with the VFW to serve the community, youth  and veterans.  Membership has grown from 30 members to 221.

Post 537 continues to discover quality leaders among its ranks, including some still active in the Reserves or National Guard. The current leadership team is recovering its focus on military service members/families, combat veterans/families, youth, civic education and patriotism.

The September golf outing, the major fundraising effort of the Auxiliary, consistently raises thousands of dollars each year to support various aspects of care at the Lebanon Veterans Administration Medical Center. The VFW usually matches the Auxiliary gift so that each year in excess of $10,000 is given to the Lebanon VAMC.

Three local elementary schools (Fishing Creek, Newberry and Red Mill) have participated in the Loyalty Day coloring contest. The top artist in each participating classroom receives a McDonald’s gift certificate and the classroom teacher receives a Walmart gift card for classroom expenditures.

The annual Voice of Democracy Oral Essay and Patriots Pen Essay scholarship contests have become important facets of the year for the James A. Danner Post community. To compete for these scholarships, students from  Red Land High School as well from Crossroads Middle School submit essays which comply with VFW National guidelines. In the past two years, our top essayists have gone on to place in the top five at the District level competition.  Recently we have also received essays from area parochial, charter, and home school students from the Etters and surrounding zip codes, as well.   In the past years, our top essayists have placed in the to five at the District level competition against students across Adams, Franklin, and York Counties.

The Post participates in the National VFW Safety Award program, which recognizes an Outstanding Firefighter, Outstanding Emergency Medical Technician, and Outstanding Police Officer each year.

In 2017, Post 537’s nominations for Outstanding Community Healthcare Employee of the Year and Citizenship Educator of the Year were recognized by VFW Department of Pennsylvania as the top individuals in their respective categories.  In 2018, one of our Loyalty Coloring Contest winners from Newberry Elementary School was selected as the top artist by VFW Department of Pennsylvania.