Named SPAR Officer Uniform

[VMI88]

This is one of my recent finds:  a SPAR uniform named to a Virginia woman.  I got this from a picker who got it directly from the family.  Between the uncommon name and what the picker relayed from the family, I was able to quickly locate the original owner.  For those interested in a detailed history you can look at this tribute on the Charlotte County Historical Society website:  http://www.cchgs.net/dorothyvernonhanmer.html.  The short version is that she enlisted in 1943 and served through 1946, most of that time in Boston.  She ended her service at the rank of lieutenant (junior grade).  The biographical sketch doesn't mention what she did in the SPARS, but she was a trained stenographer and worked as a purchaser for the Commonwealth of Virginia prior to the war.  She died in 1980 at the age of 73.

 

[VMI88]

This cap was also with the group, but interestingly has the name of another SPAR written inside.  Of course it's not really unusual to find items with different names in groups.  This one was also fairly easy to trace.  The officer has a really interesting story:  learning to fly before the war, serving as a telegrapher aboard a freighter, etc.  You can read a short article on her here:  https://www.barnstablepatriot.com/story/entertainment/2013/06/30/flying-in-man-s-world/33114286007/.  She worked as an administrative officer in the First Coast Guard District in Boston, so that explains how the two ladies crossed paths.  The article indicates she may have worked in the weather office.

[VMI88]

This uniform was also with the group and is something of a mystery.  It's also a uniform for a lieutenant (junior grade), but this one is for a WAVE and has the name of yet another woman marked inside!  I haven't been able to find anything on her so far.  My guess is that the owner of the group obtained this uniform with the intention of swapping out the Navy insignia for Coast Guard and just never got around to it.  Apart from the collar and cuff insignia the two two uniforms are identical and it would have been easy to convert.  However, it's strictly a guess.

 

Also included in the group (but not pictured) was her black silk neck tie.  I also need to get a set of screwback USCG collar insignia to display on the SPAR uniform.  I'll post it in the "Wanted" section, but if anyone reading this has a set they'd like to part with for a reasonable price please let me know.