completing their reserve enlistments. Background The (USCG) Women's Reserve act was passed by the 77th United States Congress, and became Public Law 773 when signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 23 November 1942. It amended the USCG Auxiliary and Reserve Act of 1941, providing for the releasing of officers and enlisted men for duty at sea and to be replaced by women at shore stations. It was established as a branch of the USCG Reserve, with authority to enlist and appoint women to serve during World War II and for six months thereafter. The reservists were to be trained and qualified for duty at the continental shore stations of the USCG. They were not to be used to replace civil service personnel. The law was similar to that of the Women's Naval Reserve, better known as the WAVES. Initially, the SPARS were only stationed in the United States, but in 1944 they were allowed to deploy to Hawaii and Alaska (then, territories of the U.S.). The USCG was the smallest of the military branches and was under the wing of the United States Department of the Navy, although, just prior to World War II, it had been under the supervision of the United States Department of the Treasury. Dorothy C. Stratton was appointed director of the Women's Reserve (SPARS) with the rank of lieutenant commander and was later promoted to captain. She had been the Dean of Women on leave from Purdue University and a lieutenant in the WAVES. Stratton is credited with creating the nautical name of SPARS. The name was fashioned by taking the first letters of the USCG's Latin motto, Semper Paratus, and the first letters of its English translation, "Always Ready", Stratton held a master's degree from the University of Chicago and a doctorate from Columbia University. She died in 2006 at age 107. The name also alludes to a spar, a wooden pole that supports a sail, and Stratton also suggested that it could stand for the Four Freedoms: Speech, Press, Assembly, Religion. Recruiting At the outset, the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and USCG agreed to recruit and to train the members of their respective women's reserves together, using existing Navy facilities. For recruiting purposes, the SPARS would utilize the Offices of the Naval Officer Procurement. Their first recruiting efforts got underway in December 1942, but they were hampered somewhat by the absence