CWO4 Elizabeth Frances Splaine, USCG Ret. Oral History Part 1

title:

CWO4 Elizabeth Frances Splaine, USCG Ret. Oral History Part 1

creator:

Splaine Elizabeth "Betty" Frances (1920 June 18 - )

subject:

Coast Guard SPARs | Coast Guard

description:

Part 1 of 2. Elizabeth “Betty” F. Splaine was born on June 18, 1920 in Medford, Massachusetts. Between second and third grade, their family moved to Somerville, Massachusetts because her father bought a small grocery store they ran. She went to a small parochial school for the remainder of elementary school and graduated from Sommerville High School in 1938. After graduating, her father happened to win an Irish Sweepstakes that allowed him to go with her and her younger brother to Ireland to see his family there. After returning in September, she attended the business school Burdett College in Boston, Massachusetts. When she finished there, they had a placement bureau that sent her to a construction company in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and she stayed there for two years. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, she was told it would be good to work in the civil service, so she took the exams and began working. When the Navy WAVES first began she considered joining but was discouraged by some and did not. In Boston, they saw lots of Coast Guard activity, so instead of the Navy she thought she should join the Coast Guard SPARs. She was sworn in in March 1943 and went to boot camp with the WAVES at Hunter College in New York. Boot camp lasted three weeks, then they shipped off to Washington, DC. There, she worked in recruitment for male enlistees at recruiting booths around the city. She remained in this station and job for 3 years, receiving a discharge in 1946. Because she had been in the civil service, it was easier for her to get federal work and she got a job with the VA in Boston. She rejoined the Coast Guard as a reservist in 1950, and in 1952 she was called to active duty and went to a Navy Reserve training center to do recordkeeping. She applied to be a warrant officer and succeeded on the tests the second time around, becoming the first woman warrant officer in the Coast Guard. In 1958, she began working at the newly-created National Transportation Safety Board, which tracked airplane, boat, highway, and train accidents. She remained working in the admiral’s office until her forced retirement in1970. When she left the service Splaine had reached the rank of chief warrant officer 4th class, and for her service she was awarded a Coast Guard Commendation Medal, Coast Guard Achievement Medal, Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and National Defense Service Medal. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Scott, Kate M.

date:

2004-04-13

type:

Moving Image

format:

Hi-8

identifier:

879.01; 2004.879

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

008316

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | Korean War (1950-1953) | 1943-46 | 1951-70

rights:

Unrestricted