PASCAGOULA – Michelle Obama will arrive in Mississippi this morning to honor the Coast Guard’s first female officer, Dorothy C. Stratton, by christening a Coast Guard cutter in Stratton‘s honor. This is Mrs. Obama’s second trip to the Coast in recent weeks.
Prior to the ceremony, Mrs. Obama will speak with members of the Coast Guard that have been responding to the BP oil spill.
Serving as the ship’s sponsor, the first lady will speak at the official ceremony which will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. Mrs. Obama will then break a bottle across the bow of the U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752).
Reportedly, Mrs. Obama announced last summer that she would serve as the ship’s sponsor.
Coast Guard officials said: The “Stratton is the third of eight National Security Cutters that comprise the Legend class which is the “most technologically sophisticated class of ship in the history of the Coast Guard. With its 418-foot length and 4,700-ton full load displacement, the NSC is the largest of the new multi-mission cutters.”
Stratton, was born in Brookfield, Missouri, in 1899 and was the first female commissioned officer of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Stratton graduated from Ottawa University in 1920 and received her Master’s degree from the University of Chicago. She received a Ph.D. from Columbia University. She taught at public high schools in Brookfield, Missouri, Renton, Washington and San Bernardino, California (she was dean of girls at San Bernardino High School) before joining the faculty at Purdue University as dean of women and assistant professor of psychology.
Stratton served on the selection board for the Women’s Army Corps V Corps Area. In 1942, she took a leave of absence from Purdue and joined the WAVES, and was commissioned a lieutenant.
In late 1942, Stratton was ordered to Washington, DC to the office of the Commandant of the Coast Guard to organize the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, and was transferred from the Navy to the Coast Guard.
Stratton was also the director of the SPARS, the United States Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, during World War II.
She developed the name SPARS using a contraction of the Coast Guard motto “Semper Paratus” and its English translation “Always Ready.” She was appointed its first director with a rank of lieutenant commander.
Stratton continued in the post until 1946 and rose to the rank of captain. As director, she oversaw over 10,000 enlisted women and 1,000 commissioned officers. She left the Coast Guard in 1946 shortly before the SPARS were demobilized. For her service she was awarded the Legion of Merit.
Stratton died in Lafayette, Indiana on Sept. 17, 2006 at the age of 107.
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