Stratton completed the demobilization of the SPARS and concluded her tenure as director of the Coast Guard Women's Reserve on June 30, 1946.
On June 30, 1946, the Coast Guard Women's Reserve, known as the SPARS, was formally demobilized, marking the conclusion of Dorothy Stratton's tenure as its founding director.
Over nearly four years, Stratton had built the SPARS from nothing into a highly organized force of thousands of women who performed essential clerical, communications, and support functions that allowed the Coast Guard to redirect male personnel toward combat and sea duty. Her leadership through recruitment, training, and eventual wartime drawdown demonstrated exceptional organizational and administrative skill.
The demobilization process required careful coordination to transition servicewomen back into civilian life, an effort Stratton managed with the same rigor and care she had brought to the organization's founding. Her successful stewardship of both the buildup and wind-down of the SPARS cemented her reputation as an exceptionally capable administrator.
Following this milestone, Stratton would go on to further pioneering roles, including as the first director of personnel at the International Monetary Fund. Her Coast Guard service, however, remained the signature achievement establishing her place in the history of women in the U.S. military.