Coast Guard Women's Service (SPAR)

GREAT Links to Coast Guard Women's Service History
found at www.uscg.mil/history/womenindex.asp

Overviews, Articles & Chronologies

• A History of Women in the Coast Guard
• Women in the Coast Guard: A Historical Chronology
• Women in the United States Coast Guard
• Celebrating Women in U.S. Coast Guard History
• Women in the Coast Guard: A Historical Bibliography
• Women Lighthouse Keepers
• Women Find Favor with Coast Guard Fashion, Women's Uniform Changes in 1974
• Women in the Coast Guard, 1972-1984: A Historic Photo Gallery (Includes images of the first active-duty women, the first to go to sea, and the first women aviators.)
• Women at the Coast Guard Academy: A Historical Timeline of the Early Years
• First Fourteen (An article covering the women of the Coast Guard Academy Class of 1980 as published in the Commandant's Bulletin Vol. 23-80.)

SPARS: The Coast Guard Women's Reserve

• SPARS: An Illustrated History of the Coast Guard Women's Reserve in World War II
• Three Years Behind the Mast: The Story of The United States Coast Guard SPARS by Mary C. Lyne & Kay Arthur, Lieutenants, USCGR(W).
• U. S. Coast Guard, Public Information Division. The Coast Guard at War: Women's Reserve. Vol. XII. Washington, DC: US Coast Guard, 1946 (The official history of the SPARs during World War II).
• SPAR Song Book (ca.1944)
• SPAR Uniforms: A Historical Photograph Gallery, 1942-1974 (jpeg images).
• SPARs on Film: (PDF copies of Coast Guard Public Affairs' photographs of SPARs, 1955-1975.)

Notable Coast Guard Women

• Deborah Atkin, USCG
• Meredith L. Austin, USCG
• Maria Bray, USLHS
• Jody A. Breckenridge, USCG
• Sally Brice-O'Hara, USCG
• Diane Bucci, USCG
• Abbie Burgess (Grant), USLHS
• Cynthia A. Coogan, USCG
• Vivien Crea, USCG
• Marlene DeTienne, USCG
• Linda Fagan, USCG
• Pearl E. Faurie, USCGR (W)
• Florence Ebersole Finch (Smith) USCGR (W)
• Elizebeth Smith Friedman (Treasury Department, USCG)
• Holly Harrison, USCG
• Olivia Hooker, USCGR (W)
• Beverly G. Kelley, USCG (Bio); (1996 Coast Guard Magazine article & Retirement Brochure)
• Eleanor C. L'Ecuyer, USCGR
• Mary E. Landry, USCG
• Kelly (Mogk) Larson, USCG
• Ida Lewis, USLHS
• Barbara Mabrity, USLHS
• Rhonda Fleming-Makell, USCG
• Thomasania Montegomery, USCG
• Edith Munro, USCGR (W)
• Joanna Nunan, USCG
• June E. Ryan, USCG
• Fanny May Salter, USCG
• Mary Alice "Mike" Shaffer, USCGR
• Patricia Stolle, USCG
• Sandra L. Stosz, USCG
• Barbara Sutton, USCGR
• Dorothy C. Stratton, USCGR (W)
• Cari B. Thomas, USCG
• Katherine Walker, USLHS

Oral Histories & Other First-Person Accounts

• SPAR Florence Finch was the only SPAR decorated for combat during World War II Florence Finch was a decorated SPAR who saw action in enemy-occupied territory and was the only woman decorated with the Asiatic-Pacific. 
• SPAR Lillian Vasilas' oral history Ms. Vasilas describes her career in the Coast Guard during World War II. She attended basic training at West Palm Beach and then served first as a driver and then as a radio operator in the Washington, D.C. area.
• SPAR ENS Lenora Bond served first as an enlisted SPAR and then went through OCS to become an officer during the war. She served primarily in Recruiting Command. Interview conducted by Dr. Douglas Kroll, USCG AUX.
• SPAR LTJG Harriet Writer's oral history LTJG Writer became the first female Quartermaster in either the Navy or the Coast Guard and after earning her commission saw duty with the Aids to Navigation Office in Boston. Interview conducted by Dr. Douglas Kroll, USCG AUX.
• SPAR Donna Ione Smith and Coast Guardsmen Robert Smith; both were veterans of World War II.
• PSC Sandy "Grandma Gunner" Mitten a Coast Guard veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm who served with PSU-303. She describes her experiences in the Coast Guard Reserve and her time in Saudi Arabia as a patrol boat coxswain during Operation DS/DS.
• TWA Fight 800 Recovery Efforts A first-person account by CWO Patricia Golden
• Egypt Air Flight 990 Recovery Efforts A first-person account by CWO Patricia Golden
• The oral history of LCDR Andrea Sacchetti LCDR Sacchetti served as the Air Operations Officer during the 2008 "Concept of Operations" deployment to Barrow, Alaska

Historic Documents, Reports & Studies

1958: "Report of the Ad Hoc Committee to Consider the Utilization of SPARS in the Coast Guard," April, 1958.

1962: "Report of the Board Convened at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, D.C. to Consider the Promotion of Active Duty Officers of the Women's Reserve," December, 1962.

1965: Coast Guard Women's Reserve Program (SPAR) recruitment documents, including COMDTINST 1130.4A SPAR 12x3 (RQ1) Enlistment Program (24 May 1965, with Enclosures);

1966: COMDTNOTE 1210 (15 August 1966) "Officers of the Women's Reserve currently serving on extended active duty; reaffirmation of policy concerning," with supporting historical documentation dating from 1962-1966.

1974: U.S. Department of the Navy's 1974 report of the evaluation of "Women Aboard USS SANCTUARY (AG 17)" in 1973. This report was utilized by the Coast Guard as they prepared to integrate women on board cutters.