SPARS

Its purpose was to release male officers and enlisted men for sea duty by replacing them with women at shore stations.

Nonetheless, a select group of officers and enlisted SPARs were chosen to work with LORAN (Long Range Aid to Navigation); it was a secret land-based navigation system developed during World War II at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to monitor the location of ships at sea or aircraft in flight.

Prior to World War II, the United States Coast Guard was the smallest of the U.S. military branches and had operated under the auspices of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

[2] Following its transfer, the Coast Guard began expanding with personnel needs increasing exponentially, and it sought to allow women to serve in the USCG Reserve.

The law amended the USCG Auxiliary and Reserve Act of 1941 in order to "expedite the war effort by providing for releasing officers and men for sea duty and replacing them with women in the shore establishment of the Coast Guard and for other purposes."

The USCG legislation was similar to an earlier law that created the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, better known as the WAVES.

[4] Initially, women serving in the USCG Reserve were only to be stationed in the continental United States, but in 1944 they were allowed to deploy to Hawaii and Alaska (then U.S.

In the Nations' Capitol, Stratton met with several high-ranking USCG officers who informed her of pending legislation to establish a women's reserve branch within the Coast Guard and that she had been recommend for its directorship.

In her 1989 oral history article, "Launching the SPARS", Stratton described her inspiration in selecting a name for this new branch of the USCG: There was no one else to think about this ... so I tossed and turned for several nights contemplating this ...

[10] In later years, Stratton described her management style as tempered by the task at hand, guided by some advice she herself had been given: "Pick your fights—you can't fight them all—so choose carefully.

[6] In order to apply for the Women's Reserve, officer candidates and enlisted applicants had to be American citizens who had no children under 18 years of age.

[14] By June 1943, it was clear that combined SPARs–WAVES recruitment did not favor the Coast Guard's own efforts, so it withdrew from the joint agreement effective July 1.

In Three Years Behind the Mast, written by former Women's Reserve officers Lyne and Arthur, they describe some of the difficulties faced by SPAR recruiters: During the day, we made speeches, distributed posters, decorated windows, led parades, manned information booths, interviewed applicants, appeared on radio programs, and gave aptitude tests.

Meanwhile, Thomas E. Dewey, Republican candidate for president, during a speech in Chicago criticized the administration for discriminating against African American women.

[21] During the same month, the Secretary of the Navy ordered the WAVEs and SPARs to begin accepting black women recruits into their ranks.

[8] In February 1945, four months later, five African American women entered the SPARs: Olivia Hooker, Winifred Byrd, Julia Mosley, Yvonne Cumberbatch, and Aileen Cooke.

After boot camp, the former elementary school teacher received training as a yeoman and then spent the remainder of her service time at a USCG separation center in Boston, Massachusetts.

[27] The initial agreement between the Navy and the Coast Guard required that SPAR officer candidates receive their indoctrination at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts—the official Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School.

Academically, the curriculum included such subjects as: administration, correspondence, communications, history, organization, ships, personnel, and public speaking.

Others attended USCG schools to be trained as cooks, bakers, radiomen, pharmacist mates, radio technicians, and motor vehicle drivers.

The authors of Three Years Behind the Mast explain the hostility aspect this way: We felt that one important factor in determining a man's attitude was his own desire for sea duty.

Though the majority of enlisted women worked in clerical positions—with many of them earning petty officer ratings as yeoman and storekeepers—enlisted personnel were found in nearly every job classification.

The Coast Guard sent about 200 women to serve in Hawaii, and another 200 to Alaska where they performed roughly the same kind of work (and held the same ratings) as at mainland stations.

[50] LORAN was a land-based radio navigation system—operated by the U.S. Coast Guard—that was developed during World War II at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to monitor the location of ships at sea or aircraft in flight.

To qualify for duty at these stations, reservists had to complete two months of instruction at MIT that focused on the operation and maintenance of the navigation system.

Lieutenant Hamerschlag said, "The thought that we were participating in a system that was playing such an important part of winning the war gave us a feeling of being as close to the front lines as was possible for SPARs.

Written at the end of the war (just after the demobilization of the Reserve), their "history of the Spars" relates the value of their service in this way: "We were taking away many intangible things that should be of value to us for the rest of our lives—increased tolerance, a new sense of self-confidence, a better idea of how to live and work with all kinds of people, [and] a keener recognition of our responsibility as world citizens.

[7] The standard Mainbocher-designed uniform was made of navy-blue wool, and it consisted of a single-breasted jacket, worn with a six-gored skirt, along with a white shirt and dark blue tie.

To aid in the process, many SPARs were reassigned to Coast Guard personnel separation centers where they assisted in the demobilization of both male and female reservists.

With enthusiasm, with efficiency, and with a minimum of fanfare, these young women began to take over[...] The Service was fortunate in having the help of the 10,000 Spars who volunteered for duty in the Coast Guard when their country needed them, and carried the job through to a successful finish.