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During World War II there were 11,868 enlisted women and 978 female officers in the Coast Guard Women's Reserve. In 1947, the Women's Reserve of the Coast Guard was inactivated. World War II was over and there was no campaign to encourage women to enlist as SPARS. The Coast Guard's women's volunteer reserve was reactivated in January of 1950 and opened to all eligible veteran officers. In April of that year the Coast Guard announced that former enlisted women of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve could apply for enlistment in the Women's Volunteer Reserve, or SPARs. Enlistments would be for a three-year period with written agreement to serve on active duty in time of war or national emergency.
Other women served as Coast Guard SPARS during the Korean War. In November of 1952 there were 215 SPAR officers and 108 enlisted women in the SPAR reserves. In addition, there were 18 officers and 19 enlisted women on active duty in the SPARS during the Korean War. The majority of these women served at the Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The Korean War Educator is searching for the names of SPARS who served during the Korean War. To add information to this section, contact us.
Elizabeth Frances "Betty" Splaine of Massachusetts joined the Coast Guard in 1942 and worked in the personnel department until the end of World War II. She was discharged, but then became the first former SPAR from World War II to re-enlist in the Coast Guard. From 1953 until 1971 she was a warrant officer in the reserve affairs department in the Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C. She was the Coast Guard's first female warrant officer.