This Christmas, the Coast Guard is honoring a special member of our community. Jean Strickland, who served as a SPAR from 1944 to 1945, turns 102 on Dec. 25, and the Coast Guard needs your help to honor Strickland and her service by sending her a birthday card or letter.
Founded in 1942, the SPARs (Semper Paratus, Always Ready) are officially known as the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve. During World War II, thousands of women volunteered to serve in critical military shore jobs to support the war effort. Though they were demobilized in 1946, their legacy lives on today; SPARs opened the door to generations of women serving in the Coast Guard.
Jean Strickland was one of them. At twenty-one years old, the then-Los Angeles claims agent heard a radio announcement calling on women to serve. She quit her job and joined the Coast Guard in March 1944.
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MyCG spoke with Strickland’s daughter, Gail Hale, who recalled her mother’s fierce desire to serve. Strickland told her daughter that serving her country “was something my heart told me I had to do.”
After completing basic training in West Palm Beach, Fl., she served as a switchboard operator in the San Francisco area. She has fond memories of her fellow SPARs and her commanding officer (CO), her daughter recalled. Strickland relished her CO’s kindness; he drove her and her shipmates to the base every day to save them a long walk from their housing.
He even stood in for Strickland’s father on her wedding day; she married Navy Seaman First Class Horace Lee Strickland during the war. Seaman Second Class Jean Strickland retired from the Coast Guard in 1945.
Please mail all cards and letters to:
Ms. Jean Strickland, USCG WWII SPAR
Clifford C. Sims Veterans Home
4419 Tram Road Room 139A
Panama City, FL 32404
Make sure to post this flyer at your unit to help us spread the word!
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