Stratton, Dorothy, Capt., USCGR (Ret.)
Captain Dorothy C. Stratton USCGR (Ret.)
(U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive)

SPARS: The Creation of the U. S. Coast Guard Women’s Reserve

An excerpt from Captain Dorothy Stratton's oral history.
By Taira Payne
August 2021
Naval History
Volume 35, Number 4
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Captain Dorothy Stratton was selected as a senior Navy lieutenant at the beginning of World War II to head the U.S. Coast Guard's budding women's program, which she named the Semper Paratus—Always Ready, or simply "SPARS".

Lieutenant Dorothy Stratton Coast Guard Commandant Vice Admiral Russell Waesche. “Loaned” to the Coast Guard, she became the first director of that service’s women’s volunteer SPAR reserve.
(U.S. Coast Guard)

In this excerpt, Captain Stratton discusses her introduction to the U.S. Coast Guard and the initial creation of the SPARS, including the assistance of 12 Navy WAVES officers.

To read more about the Naval Institute Oral History Program, click here.

For the complete Stratton’s Oral History on the website, click here.

Taira Payne

Taira Payne was the Project Manager, Digital Assets & Web for the U.S. Naval Institute until January 2022. She holds a Master of Library and Information Science, specializing in Archives and Digital Curation, from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor’s in History from Washington College.

More Stories From This Author View Biography

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