Delegation Resource Manual: YMCA PA Youth & Government 101
Page 4
YMCA PA Youth & Government Program
A note about our beginnings: Lt. Governor Daniel B. Strickler
General Daniel B. Strickler (1897 - 1992)
Daniel B. Strickler was born in Columbia, Pennsylvania, near Lancaster, on May 17, 1897. He was
one of the State’s best known military leaders, long associated with the Pennsylvania National
Guard’s 28th Infantry Division. He served with the Division on active duty, commanding troops,
during four wars. Strickler was one of the country’s first boy scouts joining the Columbia troupe in
1910, within a year after the international scouting movement was first founded. Upon graduating
from Columbia High School, where he was class President and highest honor student, he enlisted in
the National Guard when it was called to active duty on the Mexican border. In the campaign of
1916, he soldiered with the 28th Division in southern Texas near El Paso searching for Pancho Villa
and rose to the rank of sergeant.
After World War I he attended Cornell University. Upon graduation from Cornell Law School in
1922, Strickler returned to Lancaster to practice law. He became active in local politics. In the early
1930’s he was a representative in the Pennsylvania legislature. In 1932, during prohibition, he was
named Lancaster’s Commissioner of Police and was responsible for getting rid of the bootlegging
that had infiltrated the community. During this period he was also active in the military reserves
rising to the rank of full colonel.
After the Pearl Harbor attack, he returned to active duty, taking a reduction in rank to Lieutenant
Colonel so he could have a combat command. During World War II, first as a battalion commander
and later as a regimental commander, he fought with the 28th through France and Belgium. In the
Battle of the Bulge conflict he received a battlefield promotion from lieutenant colonel to full
colonel. After World War II, Strickler again returned to the practice of law in Lancaster.
In 1946 he was a leading contender to be the Republican candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania
but ended up on the ticket as Lt. Governor, behind Governor James Duff. It was during this time
that he led a group of Pennsylvania citizens which initiated the Youth & Government program in
order to “help the youth of [Pennsylvania] to understand the nature, merits, and workings of its own
government.”
When the Korean War started in 1950, Strickler resigned his office as Lt. Governor to take over as
commanding general of the 28th Division. Strickler remained in active military service, with the rank
of major general, through most of the 1950’s. Strickler received many military decorations for his
World War II service, including the Bronze Star, the Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster and the
Legion of Merit. The one that meant the most to him was the Combat Infantry Badge. He was also
decorated by France, Belgium and Luxembourg. After retiring from the military in 1957, as a Lt.
General, Strickler once again took up his law practice in Lancaster. Even at the age of ninety, he
could occasionally be seen at the local court house filing a brief or probating a will.
He was active in local civic causes ranging from President of the Chamber of Commerce, the
YMCA and the Lancaster Bar Association to serving as an elder of his local Presbyterian Church. He
headed several local charities and was active in many other community groups.
He had simple patriotic feelings and believed in serving his country and community. It is in his honor
and with his spirit that YMCA Youth & Government presents the Lt. Governor Daniel B. Stickler
Service to Youth Award.
