Two African-American SPARS(20″ x 30″) Canvas Wall Art

Two African-American SPARS pause on the ladder of the dry-land ship U.S.S. Neversail during their boot training at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Station, Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, NY, during WWII. The Women’s Reserve of the Coast Guard (SPARS) was created on Nov. 23, 1942 “to expedite the war effort by providing for releasing officers and men for duty at sea and their replacement by women in the shore establishment of the Coast Guard”. Women were not to serve outside the continental United States, and no woman, officer or enlisted, could issue orders to any male serviceman. The first 153 enlisted SPARs and 15 SPAR officers were former WAVES who agreed to be discharged from the Navy and join the Coast Guard.

Two African-American SPARS pause on the ladder of the dry-land ship U.S.S. Neversail during their boot training at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Station, Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, NY, during WWII. The Women’s Reserve of the Coast Guard (SPARS) was created on Nov. 23, 1942 “to expedite the war effort by providing for releasing officers and men for duty at sea and their replacement by women in the shore establishment of the Coast Guard”. Women were not to serve outside the continental United States, and no woman, officer or enlisted, could issue orders to any male serviceman. The first 153 enlisted SPARs and 15 SPAR officers were former WAVES who agreed to be discharged from the Navy and join the Coast Guard.