Remembering the SPARs of World War II

Posted 9/25/14

About seven years ago, when PBS was about to air “The War”; yet another series about the Second World War, we sat down with some women who served in that war and listened to a typical grievance …

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Remembering the SPARs of World War II

Posted

About seven years ago, when PBS was about to air “The War”; yet another series about the Second World War, we sat down with some women who served in that war and listened to a typical grievance among female veterans of the war:

“When Luisa White went to the Social Security office to sign up for benefits several years ago, she was more than a little annoyed at the woman who interviewed her.

‘When she got to the question about whether I was a veteran, she checked off “No” without waiting for me to answer,’ said Luisa, still a vibrant and lively woman who is used to sticking up for herself.

‘I said, “Wait a minute! I am a veteran!” She [the interviewer] was just like so many other people who think because I am a woman, I can’t be a veteran. Well, I enlisted, just like all the men did … I am a veteran.’”

Since then, more and more Americans have become aware and developed some gratitude for the women who went to war.

“‘In those days, your role was to stay home and cook and bake,’” said Marine veteran Martha Marshall in 2007. ‘That’s what women did. It was a different mindset then. Women didn’t do men’s work.’”

“The idea was that we would free up a man to serve in combat,” said Rosetta Desrosiers of Warwick in an interview this week.

Women in military service, and even in civilian jobs usually done by men, were considered an emergency measure and would go back to their place in the home after the war. On Sept. 12, Desrosiers and Cohen told some women currently serving in the Coast Guard what it was like to keep the gears of war running at home. The Coast Guard invited the veteran SPARs to speak with them and to receive special awards in gratitude for their service, a shadow box containing a flag and special medals from the Coast Guard. Now, women are beginning to get more credit for what they did during the war, especially since it took an act of Congress to allow them.

A bill to establish the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was introduced to Congress in May of 1940, to make available “to the national defense the knowledge, skill, and special training of the women of the nation.” The bill stalled in Congress and the bill didn’t pass until May of 1942, almost six months after Pearl Harbor. What the country ended up with was the WAACs, an auxiliary of women who were neither military nor civilian. Eventually, the WAACs reorganized and gained military status as the Women's Army Corps.

Desrosiers and Cohen enlisted in the SPARs in 1943, met during basic training and became best friends for life. In spite of the law, known as “Semper Paratus, Always Ready,” SPARs became the nickname for women who joined the Coast Guard. In all, 1,914 women were trained in numerous roles to augment active-duty personnel until they were all released from service after the war in June 1946. Desrosiers remembers basic training in Palm Beach, Fla.

“Evelyn and I went to boot camp together,” said Desrosiers. “It was mostly how to march and do military drill.”

They were also trained in the jobs they were going to do and other office skills were a large part of their duties. Still, they did manage to find some time to go to the beach but they were given a stern warning.

“They told us that we would be disciplined if we got ourselves sunburned,” said Desrosiers. “I went to the beach on an overcast day but still managed to get myself burned to a crisp.”

She said she never was disciplined for allowing herself to get burned. Perhaps they thought she had suffered enough, she guessed. Ironically, she was sent to Duluth by the Coast Guard, where “They were fond of saying, ‘Wait until it gets 40 below.’”

Most women joined out of a sense of duty and a desire to serve their country, but the idea of an adventure was also present in the women’s motives for joining. Many had never been away from home on their own and for them it was a chance to take a chance and have some excitement.

“I wanted to do some traveling, to see some parts of the world,” said Desrosiers. “I was an only child and I liked the idea of having lots of friends. It was like having all the sisters you never had.”

Desrosiers was working as a typist down in Davisville at the beginning of the war. She said she worked with twin brothers who enlisted in the Coast Guard. She liked the stories they told about rescues at sea and decided she wanted to belong to a service that saved lives as much as destroyed enemies.

“As soon as I reached the required age, 20, I went up to Boston and enlisted,” she said.

Desrosiers ended up on Lake Michigan, processing identification for people looking for passes to be on the lake. The Great Lakes handle a lot of freight destined for the front and the government wanted to know who was out there.

“I would interview the people, take their fingerprints and then laminate the IDs,” she said. “I never did interview any suspicious people.”

Desrosiers said her experiences during the war were relatively tame and said she doesn’t remember any particular alerts or emergencies while she was there.

“If something like that did occur, I guess we would have been very surprised,” she said.

But the war did end and the women went back home, but they were never the same again. Desrosiers took advantage of the G.I. Bill after the war and enrolled in college at the University of Wisconsin.

“I met a nice young man, I married him and I was pregnant by the next semester,” she said. “We lived in Au Claire for a while, but I got homesick for Rhode Island and we came back here.”

Children and the joy and sorrow of ordinary life awaited. But there was a difference. All the women agree that their enlistment was probably the single most important thing they did in their life.

“‘I really wasn’t exactly the same,’ said Marshall in 2007, who could have been speaking for them all. ‘I came home with the confidence that I could handle anything, that I could cope with anything that came to me.’”

Even though she never did get her degree in journalism, Desrosiers went to work at the Outlet Store, then on to the Rhode Island School of Design, where she was an editorial assistant and wrote articles for the Alumni Bulletin and various other publications. She was no longer the shy young woman who joined the United States Coast Guard. She was wife, mother and writer who had been published in the Providence Journal and the Warwick Beacon. She remains an active and attentive citizen and it’s rare that a year goes by without letters to the editor on a variety of subjects.

“‘Semper Peratus - Always Ready’ was our motto and that’s my motto, too.”

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  • KarenKutkiewicz

    Thank you for talking to us at Coast Guard Station Castle Hill last week. What a pleasure it was to talk to a WWII Veteran, a woman I admire so dearly. My appreciation for paving the way for the rest of us. The reasons Rosetta and Evelyn joined were the same reasons why people join the Coast Guard today.

    "Most women joined out of a sense of duty and a desire to serve their country, but the idea of an adventure was also present in the women’s motives for joining. Many had never been away from home on their own and for them it was a chance to take a chance and have some excitement." and "Children and the joy and sorrow of ordinary life awaited. But there was a difference. All the women agree that their enlistment was probably the single most important thing they did in their life."

    Thank you for sharing your story, and to Joe, for writing such an excellent piece. Semper Paratus, Always Ready.

    Lieutenant Karen Love Kutkiewicz, United States Coast Guard

    Friday, September 26, 2014 Report this