The SPAR division - an acronym for the Coast Guard motto, Semper Paratus / Always Ready, was created in 1942 when the Coast Guard, like other military branches, found itself in need of more men at sea and on foreign soil. Women were assigned to shore positions such as clerks, parachute riggers and storekeepers.SPARs, like Army WACs and Navy WAVESs, were promoted as attractive, wholesome, high-spirited young women with impeccable grooming habits and no ambition beyond serving their country and, after the war, getting married.
Though the branches disbanded six months after the war ended, many said their existence during wartime helped pave the way for women to join the military as equals with men. Like the other units, the SPARs were a reserve branch, not given the same benefits accorded their male counterparts.
