World War II proved to be a hard time for everyone all over the world.  As men left to fight on the battlefields of Europe and Asia, the women left behind did their part on the home front in one way or another.
     Countless women volunteered their time for their country by joining the Women’s Reserve of one of the five branches of service.  The Coast Guard Auxiliary and Reserve Act of 1941 was amended Nov. 23, 1942, and the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve was created.  Capt. Dorothy Stratton left the Navy WAVES to sit at the helm of the Coast Guard SPARs (Semper Paratus – Always Ready) as the director, and women all over the country took whatever jobs they could in support of the war effort. 
     Seaman 1^st Class Margaret (Marge) Lewis is one of those women who enthusiastically joined the SPARs to serve her country during the time of war. 
     “Every summer my friends and I would all come over to the Coast Guard station [in Kenosha, Wis.], so we knew a lot of the guys who were there.  That was one of the reasons I chose the Coast Guard,” Lewis said.  “I had a girlfriend who was supposed to join with me, but she backed out at the last minute.”
     Lewis was 23 when she decided to enlist in the Women’s Reserve November 23, 1944.  She went to the station to sign up, but was turned away at first.
     “I weighed 99 pounds.  The minimum they allowed was 115,” she laughs as she tells the story.  “It took me an entire year to gain 16 pounds!  But I did it.”

SA Amanda Castle and SN Christy Belsky, both stationed at the Coast Guard Station Kenosha, Wis., stand with SPAR Seaman 1st Class Marge Lewis and her husband after an award ceremony for Lewis here.

   Once she was accepted, Lewis headed to Palm Beach, Fla., for six weeks of basic training.  After her basic training, she attended office training for another six weeks.  Once her training was complete and she and her fellow SPARs were ready for duty, she said she and the other women were “shipped all over the country.”  She finally got assigned almost 350 miles from home in St. Louis where she worked as a secretary.
     “What I did wasn’t too exciting,” she explained.  “We went to office training school.  Once we finished, each of us received a typewriter.  I did a lot of typing throughout the war.”
     Most of the jobs the women performed were originally done by men, but the Coast Guard needed those men to deploy to the various theaters over the world.  This was the job Lewis took over.
     “The person who had my job before me was a guy.  I took his spot so that he could do what he had to do overseas.”      
     While in St. Louis she and the other SPARs were assigned to a townhouse that was converted into barracks.  While serving, the rules for the ladies were strict, Lewis said.  Any time they were to leave their living quarters they had to be dressed in their uniforms.
     “One night, around bedtime, someone decided she wanted hamburgers and there was a hamburger joint across the street,” Lewis laughed at the memory.  “No one wanted to get dressed.  So I put my raincoat on, rolled up my pajamas and hoped they wouldn’t fall ‘cause there was a century on duty.  I wrapped myself up, put my hat on.  Then went out and bought the hamburgers and came back.”  Lewis laughed as she explained the entire time her rolled pants were threatening to fall and reveal her secret.  But they stayed up long enough for the adventure and no one was the wiser.
     Another story Lewis remembers was when she and some of the other women she lived with came home from an outing and saw a drunken sailor near their barracks.
     “He was so drunk he could barely walk,” she recalled.  “So we snuck him in and put him on the couch with some bedding.  But none of could go to sleep because we were afraid we were going to get caught.  About six o’clock in the morning we woke him up and told him to get out.  But we didn’t get caught.”
     Between sneaking out to get hamburgers and taking care of drunken sailors, Lewis recalls her all of her time of service as a proud memory.  She was officially honorably discharged June 3, 1946.  Just shy of her 60^th anniversary of her discharge, Lewis’ service was recognized Dec. 1 by Congressman Paul Ryan and Sector Lake Michigan commanding officer Capt. Scott LaRochelle.
     The ceremony included the entire crew of Station Kenosha and the Aids to Navigation crew.  The experience was a surprise to Lewis.  Congressman Ryan presented her a certificate of special recognition for her service.  LaRochelle then presented her the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal, both presented to her by LaRochelle.

SPAR Seaman 1st Class Marge Lewis says she is speechless at the pomp and circumstance Station Kenosha, Wis., has gone through so that she can be awarded the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal for her time in the service during the war.  The medals were awarded to her Dec. 1, 2005.Photo by PA2 Allyson Taylor Feller.

     “I’m speechless,” Lewis choked out.  “Usually I have a lot to say, but now, I can’t think of anything.”
     “It is important to remember the generations before us who have fought for our freedom,” the congressman said to Lewis.  “As today’s generation fights a war of terrorism, we need to look back and honor those from yesterday.”
     Lewis and the women who volunteered their time during World War II set the ground work for history.  It was because of their contributions during the war that eventually led to women being an intricate part of all of the services.  These women took the first steps for CWO4 Alice Jefferson to become the first commissioned officer to serve on active duty; for Capt. Eleanor L’ecuyer to become the first female to be promoted to captain after WWII; and for Cmdr. Janna Lambine to be the first female Coast Guard aviator.