She'll Become a SPAR Minute Past Midnight
Nadine McMillen, 3318 Cambridge st., literally will become a SPAR at the earliest possible moment Thursday.
Thursday, Feb. 17, is her twentieth birthday anniversary and she will take the oath of allegiance to the women's coast guard unit at 12:01 a.m.
"I have to wait until I am 20" she laughed, "but I don't intend waiting a minute longer."
The swearing in of Nadine will climax a birthday celebration at the McMillen household. Dinner guests will be Ensign Elizabeth Ayer, who will administer the oath, and Yeoman Striker Jean Spanbauer, both from the SPAR recruiting headquarters at Omaha, Neb.
Nadine, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.G. McMillen, is a North High school graduate and was employed as a long distance operator for Northwestern Bell Telephone Co. for a year and a half before enlisting. She will leave Feb. 23 for indoctrination training at Palm Beach, Fla. She is the first of the McMillen family of five girls and a boy to join the service. A brother-in-law, Dale Darland, is with the army air forces in England.
Source: Des Moines Tribune, February 16, 1944 (photo included)
Des Moines in the Service
Nadine McMillen, seaman, second class, in the SPARs, is being transferred from Palm Beach, Fla., to Seattle, Wash. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.G. McMillen, 3318 Cambridge st.
Source: Des Moines Tribune, April 25, 1944
