Coast Guard Recruitment

It was on Friday, April 6th, 1917, the day Congress declared war on Germany, that the U.S. Navy’s communications center in Arlington, Virginia, transmitted the code words “Plan One, Acknowledge” to Coast Guard cutters, units and bases initiating the Coast Guard’s transfer from the Treasury Department to the Navy and placing the Service on a wartime footing.

During the war’s nearly nineteen months, the Coast Guard and Lighthouse Service would lose almost two hundred men and five ships. These ships included two combat losses. On August 6th, 1918, U-140 sank the Diamond Shoals Lightship after her crew transmitted to shore the location of the marauding enemy submarine, but no lives were lost. However, on September 26th, 1918, after completing her convoy escort duty from Gibraltar to Milford Haven, England, Cutter Tampa was torpedoed by UB-91. The cutter sank killing all 131 persons on board, including four U.S. Navy men, sixteen Royal Navy personnel and 111 Coast Guard officers and men. It proved America’s greatest World War I naval loss of life due to combat.

This is a portion of those posters that we have labeled as 

Coast Guard World War 1 Recruiting

World War 2

As with all wars, World War II had a transformative effect on America's military services. In the years immediately preceding U.S. entry into the conflict and over the subsequent four years, eight months of fighting, the Coast Guard's responsibilities grew exponentially. To support the cause, the Coast Guard expanded to a record high of more than 170,000 men and women serving in uniform at one time, with nearly 250,000 personnel serving over the course of the war. The Coast Guard supported both combat and traditional service missions, including search and rescue, marine safety, convoy escort duty, troop transport and amphibious operations, port security, and beach patrol. By doing so, the U.S. Coast Guard proved itself Semper Paratus-"Always Ready"-to perform any maritime missions required by the war effort.

On Nov. 23, 1942, legislation was approved creating yet another arm of the U.S. Coast Guard, one that would pave the way for Coast Guard women of today - The U.S. Coast Guard Women's Reserve, also known as the SPARs.

Soon after the legislation was passed in November 1942, a recruiting drive began to build the SPAR corps. Although military services had been recruiting their members for many years, SPAR recruiters faced two challenges - recruiting women and recruiting them for one of the least-known services. The posters for the SPAR members are in the Recruiting Women section

This is a portion of those posters that we have labeled as 

Coast Guard World War 2 Recruiting

Materials published by the U.S. Government Printing Office are in the public domain and, as such, not subject to copyright restriction.