Space Technology

By: Lewis Lowe
Women serve in the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii

The first SPARs of 1942 were filling shore billets only in the continental United States. Working in district offices and field units alike, SPARs were assigned to every Coast Guard district except the 10th District in Puerto Rico. Finally in late 1944, Congress relaxed its ruling that kept service women stateside and allowed them to serve in Alaska and Hawaii. However, they were still restricted from duty in Puerto Rico because of a lack of housing suitable for women.

Thirty-seven percent of SPAR officers held general-duty assignments. Duties in this category included administrative and supervisory work throughout the Coast Guard. There were other billets for SPAR officers, including communications officers, pay and supply officers, barracks officers and recruiting officers.

SPARs hold a variety of jobs

Although all enlisted SPARs were not automatically slated for clerical work, a large portion did become yeomen and storekeepers. "Not all of us assigned to paperwork found it boring," Arthur said. "We didn't by a long shot. We may have liked that type of work to begin with or we may have had the kind of job where, if we had any imagination, we could see how our contribution fitted into the same pattern of victory which the men were weaving abroad."

A photo of Coast Guard spars

SPAR Helen O'Brien on duty at Coast Guard Headquarter's communication center.

A photo of Coast Guard spars While traditional clerical work represented the bulk of the ratings for SPARs, many worked in other specialized fields. Billets for SPARs included parachute riggers, chaplains assistants, air control-tower operators, boatswains mates, coxswains, radiomen, ship's cooks, vehicle drivers and many more. For instance, a small group of women became pharmacist's mates. Those with prior practical nursing or medical experience were assigned as assistants in sick bays.

Another field was opened to women during the SPAR years - aviation. Only 18 women were rated parachute riggers, 22 were trained as Link trainer operators and 12 as air control tower operators. This small corps of women in the aviation field may not have been piloting the aircraft, but their jobs demanded the utmost in accuracy and skill because numerous lives depended on it.A photo of Coast Guard spars

Another non-traditional field that employed SPARs throughout the Coast Guard was the radioman technician rate. Because of the stringent qualifications, only a small number of women were both qualified and interested in performing the fundamentals of radio repair and maintenance at district radio repair bases.

The unknown specialty

Even though there were several non-traditional fields for women, one stands out among them all because it was probably the least publicized and most unique - LORAN. With the birth of this new long range aid to navigation in October 1942, it was not yet a household word for the Coast Guard. In fact, it was a secret. During this time of war, any kind of military communications was hush-hush enough - but loran was a word that was only said behind locked doors.

In 1943, headquarters decided that loran monitoring stations in the continental United States should be crewed by SPARs. The SPAR operators were to stand watch 24 hours a day. This job entailed recording measurements every two minutes of the radio signals transmitted from two shore-based stations. The signals were picked up by a receiver-indicator installed on ships and planes, enabling them to calculate their exact position.

The new concept of women in loran that was proposed by headquarters became a reality when the Coast Guard established its first loran station crewed with women in Chatham, Mass. Following a two-month loran operations and maintenance course at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, LTJG Vera Hamerschlag was assigned as the commanding officer of the Chatham station.

A photo of Coast Guard spars

The officers of the High Frequency Radio Direction Finding Evaluation Control Center.

"Later, 11 enlisted SPARS were assigned to a one-week course in operations only," Hamerschlag said. "The selection of these SPARs was unique, to say the least. Loran was so hush-hush that not even the training officer had any conception of what the duties of these SPARs would be, nor what their qualifications should be."

The SPARs assigned to Chatham were volunteers with a sense of adventure for an unknown job. When Hamerschlag reported to Chatham, it was crewed 100 percent by men. Within one month, it was turned over to 100 percent SPARs, except for one male radio technician. This sole technician joined his shipmates in overseas duty six months after the SPARs took over. Hamerschlag was not only the CO of the 50- by 30-foot station, she was the operations officer, engineering officer, medical officer, barracks officer, personnel officer, training officer and even the captain of the head for the 11-SPAR crew.

In the station building, which provided sleeping quarters, a recreation room, office space, an operations room, a repair shop and sleeping space, Hamerschlag and her crew became experts in plumbing, coal heating and emergency generators. "I remember the feeling I had when I looked at the 125-foot mast for the station's antenna and wondered which SPAR would climb the rigging if something went wrong," Hamerschlag said. "I asked the CO I was replacing who took care of it. His nonchalant answer was not to worry since nothing would happen to it short of a hurricane."

Chatham's head SPAR said esprit de corps kept the unit together. "The human element of the work kept it from getting dull and routine for the operators," she said. "The thought that we were participating in a system that was playing such an important part in winning the war gave us a feeling of being as close to the front lines as it was possible for SPARs." Loran Station Chatham is believed to have been, at that time, the only all-woman station of its kind in the world.

A photo of Coast Guard spars

World War II ends

Although the SPARs were serving in a wide variety of jobs including the non-traditional loran field and they were meeting critical needs of the service, their time was not forever. The Women's Reserve was not established to be a permanent branch of the service, but was intended to be activated during the war and remain for six months afterward. This day finally came for the SPARs. They had reached the goal toward which they and millions of other service men and women had been working. World War II was over. (Above: the staff of the Boston District personnel office celebrate VJ day.)

Following V-J day in August 1945, the demobilization effort began and SPARs were discharged gradually along with the reserve men. Known also as the big day, discharge day loomed in the distance for the SPARs. As that day arrived for each woman, there would be many things about the service the SPARs would miss - comradeship; the feeling of belonging; a few special friends who shared gripes, good times and clean shirts; and the tremendous thrill of being a part of the nation's military forces, Arthur said.

10,000 SPARs say goodbye to the Coast Guard

On June 30, 1946, the SPAR demobilization-completion day came and the 10,000 members of the Coast Guard Women's Reserve departed the service in the same spirit with which they entered - with patriotism for a country they loved and helped to defend, and faithfulness to their Coast Guard which they served with pride and dedication.

Lewis Lowe