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Women in the United States Coast Guard

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Linda L. Fagan became the first female four-star admiral in the United States Coast Guard in 2021.[1]

There have long been women in the United States Coast Guard, with Myrtle Hazard becoming the first woman to enlist in 1918,[2] and women continue to serve in it today.[3][4][5]

History

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Note that some minor wars women served in have been omitted from this history.

World War I

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During World War I, in January 1918, Myrtle Hazard became the first woman to enlist in the Coast Guard.[2] She was the only woman to serve in the Coast Guard during World War I.[6] As there was no official women's uniform at the time, she chose her own ensemble, a middy blouse and a blue pleated skirt.[6]

Wartime newspapers erroneously reported that twin sisters Genevieve and Lucille Baker were the first women to serve in the Coast Guard; in fact, while they tried to enlist during the war, they were not accepted.[7]

World War II and after until the Korean War

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On November 23, 1942, the Coast Guard Women's Reserve was created with the signing of Public Law 773 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.[8] Dorothy Stratton transferred from the Navy WAVES to serve as the Reserve's director.[4] Dorothy Tuttle was the first woman to enlist in the Coast Guard Women's Reserve, and in all 11,868 enlisted women and 978 female officers served in it during World War II.[4] This included Olivia Hooker, who thus became the first African-American woman to enter the Coast Guard in 1945.[9] In all five African-American women served in the Coast Guard Women's Reserve before it was inactivated in 1947, namely Hooker, D. Winifred Byrd, Julia Mosley, Yvonne Cumberbatch, and Aileen Cooke.[10][11] The Coast Guard Women's Reserve was inactivated on July 25, 1947, but was reestablished on a much smaller scale in 1949.[11]

Korean War and after until the Vietnam War

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Approximately 200 women who had been in the Coast Guard Women's Reserve reenlisted and served during the Korean War.[12] They mostly served at the Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C.[12]

Vietnam War

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The Vietnam War gave the Coast Guard a surplus of qualified male applicants, and the Coast Guard did not make a systematic effort to attract women during that time.[13]

Women in the Coast Guard since 1972

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Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U.S. 677 (1973), was a landmark Supreme Court case which decided that benefits given by the military to the family of service members cannot be given out differently because of sex.[14][note 1]

In 1973 women were integrated into the active-duty Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Reserve.[15] The Coast Guard Women's Reserve was ended and those in it were sent to the Coast Guard Reserve.[16] On December 7, 1973 Wanda May Parr and Margaret A. Blackman became the first female enlistees sworn into the regular Coast Guard, and Alice T. Jefferson became the first female commissioned officer sworn into the regular Coast Guard.[16]

In 1976 the Coast Guard Academy first admitted women; in 1985 Denise L. Matthews became the first woman to graduate at the top of her class at the Coast Guard Academy.[5][17]

In 1977 the first Coast Guard women were assigned to sea duty as crew members aboard Morgenthau and Gallatin.[5]

In 1978 the Coast Guard opened all assignments to women.[5]

Beverly Kelley became the first woman to command an American military vessel of any branch of the service, specifically a Coast Guard cutter, the 95-foot patrol boat USCGC Cape Newagen, on April 12, 1979.[18][19][20]

Vivien Crea became the first female in the U.S. Armed Forces to serve as a military aide to a President in 1984.[21]

Women in the Coast Guard served in Operation Desert Shield (1990–1991) and Operation Desert Storm (1991).[22][23][24]

In 1990, Lane McClelland became the first Women’s Policy Advisor in the Office of Personnel and Training at Coast Guard Headquarters.[25] In 1992, she became the first active duty woman since the existence of the United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve to be promoted to the rank of captain.[25] In 1993, she became the first woman assigned as Chief Trial Judge of the Coast Guard.[25]

Vivien Crea became the first woman to command an air station when she took over Air Station Detroit in 1992.[21]

In 1993 Patricia A. Stolle became the first woman in the Coast Guard to advance to master chief petty officer.[26]

Before the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was enacted in 1993, lesbians and bisexual women (and gay men and bisexual men) were banned from serving in the military.[27] In 1993 the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was enacted, which mandated that the military could not ask servicemembers about their sexual orientation.[28][29] However, until the policy was ended in 2011 service members were still expelled from the military if they engaged in sexual conduct with a member of the same sex, stated that they were lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and/or married or attempted to marry someone of the same sex.[30]

The Coast Guard gained its first female flag officer in 2000 when Vivien Crea was promoted to rear admiral.[21]

Women in the Coast Guard served in the Iraq War from 2003 until 2011.[22][31][32][33]

In 2006 Vivien Crea became the first female Vice Commandant of the United States Coast Guard and the Coast Guard’s first female vice admiral.[34] In 2008 she became the first woman to be recognized as the USCG Ancient Albatross.[21]

In 2011 Rear Admiral Sandra Stosz was chosen by the Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, Admiral Robert J. Papp to become the superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy.[35] She took the job in 2011 and held it until 2015.[36][37] As such, she was the first woman to lead a United States military service academy.[38][39]

In 2020, Rear Admiral Melissa Bert became the first woman to serve as the Judge Advocate General and Chief Counsel of the Coast Guard.[40][41]

In 2021, Linda L. Fagan became the Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard’s first female four-star admiral.[1] On May 11, 2022, the U.S. Senate confirmed Linda L. Fagan as the 27th (and first female) Commandant of the Coast Guard. When she assumed command on June 1, she became the first female service chief in the U.S. Armed Forces.[42][43]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Technically, the case was decided under the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause, not under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, since the latter applies not to the federal government but to the states. However, because Bolling v. Sharpe, through the doctrine of reverse incorporation, made the standards of the Equal Protection Clause applicable to the federal government, it was for practical purposes an addition not to due process, but rather to equal protection jurisprudence.

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b 🖉"Adm. Linda Fagan Becomes USCG's First Female Four-Star Admiral". The Maritime Executive.
  2. ^ a b "Original SPAR Declares Women Have an Important Place in a War Effort". Coast Guard Bulletin. 6: 26–28. September 1950.
  3. ^ "Women in the military — international". CBC News. 30 May 2006. Archived from the original on 18 May 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  4. ^ a b c "Women's History Chronology". Women & the U. S. Coast Guard. U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d "Women In Military Service For America Memorial". Womensmemorial.org. 1950-07-27. Archived from the original on 2013-04-03. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
  6. ^ a b Randolph, Ted (1945-08-09). "Coast Guard 'For Men Only' Tradition Broken 27 Years Ago By Accident". The Alexander City Outlook. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-08-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Vojvodich, Donna (2023-03-24). "The Long Blue Line: The Baker Twins—Re-searching the first female Coasties - or were they?". United States Coast Guard. Archived from the original on 2023-06-28. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  8. ^ A Preliminary Survey of the Development of the Women's Reserve of the United States Coast Guard, p 3
  9. ^ "Olivia Hooker: 1921 Tulsa race riot survivor dies aged 103 – BBC News". Bbc.com. 25 November 2018. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  10. ^ Women & the U. S. Coast Guard. U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  11. ^ a b "Women in Coast Guard: Historical Chronology". www.history.uscg.mil.
  12. ^ a b Paul M. Edwards (1 January 2006). The Korean War. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 53–. ISBN 978-0-313-33248-7.
  13. ^ A History of Women in the Coast Guard, by Dr. John A. Tilley
  14. ^ "Frontiero v. Richardson | The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law". Oyez.org. Retrieved 2015-08-09.
  15. ^ "Women in Coast Guard: Historical Chronology". www.history.uscg.mil.
  16. ^ a b "Women in Coast Guard: Historical Chronology".
  17. ^ Oretha D. Swartz (1988). Service Etiquette. Naval Institute Press. pp. 528–. ISBN 978-0-87021-620-6.
  18. ^ "Retirement Ceremony, Beverly G. Kelley, Captain, U.S. Coast Guard", U.S. Coast Guard, 22 April 2006, on docplayer.net
  19. ^ "Celebrating National Women's History Month 2011". www.womensmemorial.org. Retrieved 2019-02-20.
  20. ^ "Defense.gov News Article: Coast Guard Honors Centenarian, Its First Woman Commissioned Officer". archive.defense.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
  21. ^ a b c d Thiesen, William H. "Vivien Crea—aviator, leader and trailblazer for women in the military". history.uscg.mil.
  22. ^ a b "Women & the U. S. Coast Guard". uscg.mil. January 12, 2016. Archived from the original on February 3, 2016.
  23. ^ "Operation Desert Shield (1990–1991) – Honoring Our Marin Veterans". honoringmarinveterans.org.
  24. ^ "6 Things to Know About Operation Desert Storm – DoDLive". www.dodlive.mil.
  25. ^ a b c "Women in Coast Guard: Historical Chronology". history.uscg.mil. United States Coast Guard. February 22, 2021. Sections 1990, 1992, 1993. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  26. ^ "MCPO Patricia Stolle, USCG" (PDF). United States Coast Guard. September 27, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-27.
  27. ^ Elizabeth Hoffman (2003-03-28). "Military Service Should Be Based On Conduct, Not Sexual Orientation". prezi.com. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  28. ^ Craig A. Rimmerman Gay rights, military wrongs: political perspectives on lesbians and gays in the military, Garland Pub., 1996 ISBN 0815325800 p. 249
  29. ^ Thompson, Mark. (2008-01-28) 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Turns 15. TIME. Retrieved on 2010-11-30.
  30. ^ Richard A. Gittins The Military Commander & the Law, DIANE Publishing, 1996 ISBN 0788172603 p. 215
  31. ^ "U.S. Coast Guard History". Uscg.mil. Archived from the original on 2017-03-23. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  32. ^ "Last U.S. troops leave Iraq, ending war – Reuters". Reuters. 18 December 2011. Retrieved 2014-10-29.
  33. ^ Lisa Yvette Tendrich Frank (17 January 2013). An Encyclopedia of American Women at War: From the Home Front to the Battlefields [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. pp. 694–. ISBN 978-1-59884-444-3.
  34. ^ Staff, Professional Mariner. "First female U.S. Coast Guard vice admiral to step down – Professional Mariner".
  35. ^ Altimari, Daniela (2010-12-15). "Military academy gets female leader". Times-Picayune. No. Saint Tammany Edition. New Orleans. p. A2. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  36. ^ "Coast Guard admiral becomes first woman to lead a U.S. service academy | Homeland Security". www.dhs.gov.
  37. ^ New superintendent takes helm at Coast Guard Academy, Associated Press / Navy Times, 1 June 2015
  38. ^ "First woman to take helm of a U.S. military academy". United States Coast Guard Academy Media Port. 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  39. ^ Malec, William A. (May 2012). "Female firsts". Military Officer. Military Officers Association of America. p. 19. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  40. ^ "Congratulations to Rear Admiral Melissa Bert, the first woman to serve as Judge Advocate General and Chief Counsel of the Coast Guard". Legal Reader. 2020-05-11. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
  41. ^ "Coast Guard names its first female judge advocate general and chief counsel". Coast Guard News. 2020-05-01. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
  42. ^ Kime, Patricia (12 May 2022). "Coast Guard Admiral Becomes First Woman to Lead a US Military Branch". military.com.
  43. ^ "Fagan to be first woman to serve as Coast Guard commandant". Workboat. 2022-04-12. Retrieved 2022-05-13.

Sources

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