Women and the U.S. Coast Guard
Historical Information on Women in the Coast Guard and Its Predecessor Services
The all-female crew of a Yerba Buena Island 41-footer; left to right: BM1 Jane Piereth, BM3 Gail Wheeler, MK1 Esther Lieberman, BM1 Becky Post, BM3 Adele Fiorillo; April, 1989. Photo by PA1 Ron Cabral
Overviews & Chronologies:
- Women in the United States Coast Guard: A Powerpoint Overview
SPARS: The Coast Guard Women's Reserve
Famous Women:
Oral Histories & Other First-Person Accounts:
- SPAR Florence Finch was the only SPAR decorated for combat during World War II. A decorated SPAR who saw action in enemy-occupied territory and was the only woman decorated with the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Ribbon.
- SPAR Lillian Vasilas' oral history: she describes her career in the Coast Guard during World War II. She attended basic training at West Palm Beach and then served first as a driver and then as a radio operator in the Washington, D.C. area
- SPAR Donna Ione Smith and Coast Guardsmen Robert Smith; both were veterans of World War II.
- PSC Sandy "Grandma Gunner" Mitten, a Coast Guard veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm who served with PSU-303. She describes her experiences in the Coast Guard Reserve and her time in Saudi Arabia as a patrol boat coxswain during Operation DS/DS.
- The oral history of LCDR Andrea Sacchetti. LCDR Sacchetti served as the Air Operations Officer during the 2008 "Concept of Operations" deployment to Barrow, Alaska.
Last Modified 1/6/2010