National Security cutter Stratton on Friday in Pascagoula, Miss

Last Friday, Michelle Obama was the first First Lady ever to christen a US Coast Guard Cutter, the National Security Cutter Stratton.   The cutter is named after the first woman to serve as a commissioned officer in the U. S. Coast Guard, Dorthy C. Stratton.     Prior to joining the Coast Guard in World War II,  Dr. Stratton was also the first full-time dean of women at Purdue University.  Stratton died in 2006 at the age of 107.

In 1942, she was commissioned a senior lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. Later in 1942, she was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard where she became the creator and first director of the Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Coast Guard in World War II. Upon being named director, she was promoted to lieutenant commander and was promoted to commander in January 1944 and to captain one month later.  She was awarded the Legion of Merit medal for her contributions to women in the military upon retirement in 1946.

First Lady Christens Coast Guard Cutter Dorothy C. Stratton

It took the First Lady two tries but she successfully broke open the traditional bottle of champagne against the bow of the Coast Guard Cutter Dorothy C. Stratton, named after the first woman to serve as a commissioned officer in the U. S. Coast Guard.

Obama praised Stratton’s accomplishments, which included serving as the first director of the SPARs, the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve created in 1942 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The name is an acronym of the Coast Guard motto Semper Paratus, translated as “Always Ready.” A spar in nautical terms refers to a supporting beam. Stratton is credited for creating the name.

“As a woman, and as a mother of two daughters, as an American, I stand in awe of her life of service,” Obama said of Stratton. “And after all these years later, all of us — whether you’re a woman or a man, Coast Guard or another service, whether you’re military or civilian — every American can be inspired by her example.”

Like other women’s Reserves at that time, SPARs was created to free men from stateside service in order to fight overseas. Stratton volunteered to serve in the military after the bombing of Pearl Harbor despite having no military background and a strong academic future.

“When a colleague at Purdue University said … ‘Dorothy, you can’t afford to do this,’ her reply was simple. She said, ‘I can’t afford not to,’” Obama said.

Obama told the crowd of about 3,000 gathered for the ceremony that Stratton demonstrated the power of a single individual to bring about real change.

Stratton traveled the country, giving speeches, recruiting other women, including, for the first time in the Coast Guard, African American women.

“To so many of those young women, she became their mentor; she became their champion and their inspiration. And she built them into a proud 11,000-strong Coast Guard Women’s Reserve,” Obama said.

During her service, Stratton laid the groundwork to break down the barriers of women’s service in the military and left in its wake a legacy that lives today, Obama said.

“It also freed a new generation of women to believe in themselves — as radio operators, air traffic controllers, parachute riggers and machinists. These women were strong, independent, confident,” she said.

After World War II, it would be another 30 years before women started to be fully admitted into the Coast Guard and other services. Now they serve as an integral and indispensable part of the military, Obama said.