Coast Guard Spars, Circa 1945

SPARS was the United States Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, created 23 November 1942 with the signing of Public Law 773 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The name is a contraction of the Coast Guard motto: Semper Paratus and its English translation Always Ready. The name also refers to a spar in nautical usage.

Like the other women’s reserves such as the Women’s Army Corps and the WAVES, it was created to free men from stateside service in order to fight overseas.

Its first director was Captain Dorothy C. Stratton, and she is credited with creating the name for the organization. The Coast Guard closely followed the Navy WAVES model, with officer training at the Coast Guard Academy. Their goal was 1000 officers and 10,000 enlisted. 1,914 women were trained in boot camp at Hunter College’s Bronx campus.[1]

The cutter USCGC Spar (WLB-206) is named after the SPARS.

“On Nov. 23, 1942, legislation was approved creating yet another arm of the U.S. Coast Guard, one that would pave the way for Coast Guard women of today – The U.S. Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, also known as the SPARs. The SPARs were the answer to the Coast Guard’s problem. These women were under military direction, and they were subject to assignment according to the needs of the service. This was one of the key factors in using women as part of the military force. The jobs they were filling could not have been done by civilians working for the armed forces because they were not as mobile and did not fall under military law and discipline.”