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Just six months after the SPAR recruiting drive began, the service established a training center for SPARs. One month before it opened, the news had hit the streets about the opening of the SPARs new indoctrination facility - the Palm Beach Biltmore Hotel in Florida (shown in the photo on the left). Although it sounded glamorous and sophisticated, the 430 rooms given up by the Biltmore were a far cry from their original pageantry when SPAR training began in June 1943. Walls were knocked out, partitions were built, rich decorations were removed and the first 900 women reported aboard. The former Pink Palace had changed to Coast Guard blue. Over the next 18 months, more than 7,000 women were indoctrinated at Palm Beach. During that time the training course was expanded from four to six weeks to allow extra time for classes and uniform issue. The Biltmore also became home to the yeoman, storekeeper, and cooks and bakers schools. The Palm Beach SPAR boots learned the ropes much like their shipmates at the three campus-setting indoctrination facilities. Photographers Mate Second Class Dorothy Wilkes, who went through boot camp at the Biltmore, said, They fed us, issued linen, and took us to our deck where the mate taught us how to make up our bunks according to regulations. This was not new to me, but you should have seen some of those beds. A photo of Coast Guard spars Along with basic Coast Guard skills, recruits at all the training centers, including Palm Beach, were also drilled in the art of deck swabbing. Did you know there is a very definite art to swabbing a deck or mopping a floor as it used to be known? Wilkes said. Well there is, and I learned the hard way. I still have the impression, though, that the corridors had a faculty for elongating themselves each time I was on the end of a swab. Whether it was basic training or a specialty school, one thing bonded these SPARs together - they were training for service in the Coast Guard. Even with something as small as a song, these women felt the significance in training at their own station and serving their country. To hear Taps from the patio of the training station, I tried to stay awake even if sleep was engulfing me, Wilkes said. I felt closer to those fellows who were sacking in on rolling, tossing ships in enemy-infested waters somewhere over there. Boots head to chilly N.Y. After a year and a half, the SPARs left their warm Florida breezes for the chilly northeastern weather of New York once again. By December 1944, recruiting for SPARS ended except for replacements and special needs. Because they no longer had the need for an extensive training station, all future SPARs were trained at Manhattan Beach, N.Y. The SPARS arrived in Manhattan in true boot style - in the rain, said Seaman Second Class Patricia M. Raddock. We werent equipped, having come from California in high heels, no hats and summer clothes, she said. We got up with the bugle and started right out in a military way, high heels and all, marching to chow. SPAR training at Manhattan Beach differed from the other training stations in one dramatic way - their competition at this regular training station included men. A photo of Coast Guard spars The men and women of Manhattan Beach lounged, drilled, ate and slept separately, but they all belonged to the same service. These women and men did, however, compete for station honors. Right across the way, there were boy boot companies to compete against, Raddock said. We were spared very few of the details of training that were given to the men, right down to the mess duty. For the 1,900 SPARs who went through Training Station Manhattan, their indoctrination also included the Never Sail, a dry-land training ship where they learned the difference between a garboard strake and a mizzenmast. This training center also housed the yeoman, storekeeper, cooks and bakers and general office schools. Like the others before them, all of the trainees at Manhattan Beach looked beyond the mess duty, inspections, classes and competition to graduation day. We were full-fledged and we were salty, Raddock said. By gosh, we were Coast Guard. No matter where they received their initial boot training, when the women completed the basic indoctrination period, they were either assigned to a specialized school or directly to a job in the field. Assignments were determined by the persons aptitude, previous training, work experience, personal preferences and the needs of the Coast Guard. Officers face the rigors of training Even though they were fewer in number, SPAR officers also had to face the same rigors of training as the enlisted women. Their training stations and jobs were different, but all SPARs, regardless of rate or rank, were given an overall picture of the Coast Guard. A photo of Coast Guard spars Unlike their enlisted shipmates, SPAR officers were trained in only two locations. The first SPAR officers were also former WAVEs who volunteered to transfer to the Coast Guard and attend the Naval Reserve Midshipman School in Northampton, Mass. Later, the recruitment of civilians for SPAR officers began and the women also began training at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. The officer candidates gained practical knowledge of leadership and organization during their six-week curriculum. Of the 955 SPAR officers, 299 were prior enlisted. At that time, any qualified enlisted woman was eligible to apply for officer training. In fact, the last class of SPAR officer candidates was comprised entirely of former enlisted personnel. Northampton OCs march 10 miles a day In December 1942, 12 WAVEs, who transferred to the Coast Guard, attended Northamptons naval training school. All together, more than 200 women followed in their footsteps at this school. Marching to classes in both fair and foul weather was the norm. In fact, it was an order from headquarters. Known for its hills, Northamptons SPARs marched back and forth three times a day to classes, dormitories and their chow hall at the Hotel Northampton. In addition to the estimated 10 miles a day they put on their marching shoes, the SPARs also spent two hours a day doing physical education or drill just to stay fit. Memorizing facts and figures, attending five classes per day, and marching and physical training filled the seemingly endless days of training for the OCs. Arthur, who attended officer training in Northampton, said the OCs even devised their own systems for remembering vital information for tests at the training station. One entire platoon astonished the instructor by murmuring aloud on a quiz: Bad Girl Eats Raw Yellow Mangoes Too Carelessly, Poor, Poor, Sap, Arthur said. But they all managed to name the grades that could be warranted: boatswains mate, gunners mate, electricians mate, radioman, yeoman, machinists mate, torpedoman, carpenters mate, pharmacists mate, photographers mate and storekeeper. The OCs were afraid of bilging out - the SPAR term for being dropped from training - but they hoped and waited for the all-sought-after graduation day. A photo of Coast Guard spars SPARs are first women at CGA Relatively few women trained at the Navy school in Northampton. The primary training facility for the OCs was the Coast Guard Academy. Not only were the SPARs the pioneers for todays Coast Guard women, they also were the first women to attend a military academy. During the war, the Coast Guard was the only service that trained women OCs at its academy. Here, more than 700 future SPAR officers were immersed in the traditions of the nations oldest, continuous seagoing service for their six-week indoctrination period. These OCs learned their practical leadership and Coast Guard administration skills from two experienced women officers who were temporarily assigned to the academy. Like most new OCs at the school overlooking the Thames River, the new arrivals at the formerly all-male school were not triumphant. After being dumped out of a taxi cab at Chase Hall, the OCs fell into the schools routine. They went out on boats and marched the same paths as the future male officers. Here also, the training included classes, physical training, inspections, drill and watches. Ive never been so bushed in my life, wrote an unnamed academy OC in her secret diary, which at the time was considered non-regulation. If it werent for the identification button on my chest, I couldnt even remember my name. We hit the deck around here at 0615 which is the Coast Guard way of saying 6:15 a.m., which is too darned early no matter how you say it. Before the New England dawn has thoroughly jelled, we are up, dressed, fed and marking time. A photo of Coast Guard spars WAVE LT Dorothy Stratton is inteviewed by Coast Guard Commandant VADM Russell Waesche. Through all the turmoil of academy life, the SPARs endured until their commissioning day to receive their first stripe as an ensign - a blue braid. Following the indoctrination period, the majority of SPAR officers did not receive any specialized training because those who were recruited into the officer ranks already had some civilian training or experience that would benefit the Coast Guard. Seabags are issued In addition to training in their first few weeks, both enlisted and officer SPARs were issued their seabags. Early recruiting pamphlets described the SPAR uniforms as a navy blue, semi-fitted garment. With the intent of making the figures of all members as nearly equal as possible, the uniform consisted of a six-gored skirt of serge gabardine or tropical worsted and a four-button blouse with rounded lapels. The Coast Guard shield was worn on the sleeve and the seal on the lapels. Like the uniforms of today, rating badges and rank stripes were worn on the sleeves. One big difference was in the officer uniforms. Rank stripes on their whites were blue instead of gold - blue denoted reserve ranks. The SPARs had a variety of shirts, including work shirts, silk dress shirts and every-day cotton shirts. They also had several covers depending on the occasion and their officer or enlisted status. For enlisted women, the round-crowned, snap-brimmed hat was known as jaunty or casual. This hat had U.S. Coast Guard, in gold letters across the hatband. The officers hat, often referred to as boat, was adorned with the same cap device that male officers wore: the Coast Guard gold eagle on a horizontal silver anchor. However, no provisions were made for women with the rank of commander or above to wear reserve blue scrambled eggs on the brim. For informal use, both officers and enlisted women wore garrison caps. During the summer, SPARs work wear included a gray and white striped short-sleeved seersucker dress with a removable jacket. Their head gear matched the gray and white seersucker; however, garrison caps were also authorized. For summer dress occasions, another version of the standard uniform was made in a white fabric. They even disguised the regular-issue handbag by removing the strap and covering the black bag with an envelope of white poplin. A photo of Coast Guard sparsSince glamour was not the intent with the SPAR uniform issue, inclement weather did not call for umbrellas. But rather, it called for a navy blue cap cover of water-resistant material, that was patterned after gear worn by British soldiers in 1857. Now that the SPARs were indoctrinated, trained and outfitted, they were ready and eager to serve their country. The commandant of the Coast Guard sent word to field commanders that they were expected to use SPARs and release men for duty elsewhere wherever they could. Well over half of all Coast Guard men were at sea duty during the war and SPARs appeared in high proportion to men at shore establishments, according to Arthur. At the peak of the Coast Guards reserve strength during World War II, one out of every 16 enlisted members and one out of every 12 officers was a SPAR. |
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