by Peter Eisner
“With every step that: MacArthur, Reminiscences, 246.
In from the Hills
His Filipino commanders even: See Schaefer, Bataan Diary, 281–336, for details about this increased guerrilla activity.
Boone used his knowledge: Transcript of the Testimony of John Boone, Washington, DC, September 14, 1955, CC, 708–9. Official estimates said that more than 275 Americans were killed at Zig Zag Pass.
U.S. commanders had been: Ibid.
“Overnight the division took: Ibid.
Peggy was horrified one: Schaefer, Bataan Diary, 281–84.
“I am very sorry: John Boone to “Miss U” (Peggy Utinsky), December 24, 1944, Papers of John Boone, Record Group 122, Box 1, MacArthur Archives.
“I AM SURE YOU: Ibid.
“unable to procure either: Ibid.
A Race Against Time
They decided to organize: For a full description of the Cabanatuan raid, see Sides, Ghost Soldiers, and Michael J. King, Rangers: Selected Combat Operations in World War II (Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific, 2004).
No longer among them: Tiffany died on the hell ship Arisan Maru on October 24, 1944; Mack died in a Japanese labor camp in 1945.
The surprise attack was: Sides, Ghost Soldiers, 326; Lance Q. Zedric, Silent Warriors of World War II (Oxnard, CA: Pathfinder, 1995), 199.
Liberation
Mydans caught airplanes westward: Mydans, More Than Meets the Eye, 182.
“In their ragged, filthy: MacArthur, Reminiscences, 247.
“Dorm rooms became: Wilkinson, Surviving a Japanese Internment Camp, 160–64.
A Few More Hours
In November 1944 Claire: ME, 207.
“I am sorry that: Ibid., 209.
The main problem was food: Ibid., 210.
Maria said she herself: Transcript of the Testimony of Maria Martinez, San Francisco, California, January 10, 1956, CC, 1001.
“We are subsisting on coconuts: ME, 215.
“She had convinced a number: Transcript of the Testimony of Maria Martinez, San Francisco, California, January 10, 1956, CC, 1001–20.
“There stood ten of the: ME, 220.
“Yes, I’m real”: Ibid.
“We drove along the smoke-clouded: Ibid., 222.
American units encountered an: Lichauco, Dear Mother Putnam, 209.
“Manila Is Finished, Completely Demolished”
The Japanese Fourteenth Army commander: Yamashita did leave behind four thousand troops north of the Pasig River but withdrew his main force farther north.
Japanese units had also: Lichauco, Dear Mother Putnam, 214.
In the two weeks: “Fighting Is Close in Manila,” New York Times, February 23, 1945.
“As far as they: Lichauco, Dear Mother Putnam, 215.
MacArthur called it all: MacArthur, Reminiscences, 246–47.
“Manila is finished, completely: Charles Parsons, letter to Travis Ingham dated April 1, 1945, quoted in Ingham, Rendezvous by Submarine, 246.
“I am afraid she: Ingham, MacArthur’s Emissary, 176.
The Wounds of War
An Associated Press report: Richard Bergholz, “12 Liberated from Manila Insane Asylum,” Wilkes-Barre Record, February 12, 1945, p. 1.
“Are you my Mummy?”: ME, 223.
The reunion, Peggy said: Utinsky, Miss U, 161.
The papers included receipts: Transcript of the Testimony of Felicidad P. Corcuera, Washington, DC, August 23, 1954, CC, 590–94.
Claire’s Recovery
The Japanese “first wanted: Claire Phillips, as told to Frederick C. Painton, “I Was an American Spy,” American Mercury, May 1945, p. 593.
“I was stretched out: Ibid., 596–97.
“I didn’t tell you: Claire Phillips to Vada Phillips, March 10, 1945, CC.
Aboard the SS John Lykes
Bennett remained in a hospital: Mary C. Dunn, “Grim Stories Related by Former Prisoners in War,” Valley News (Van Nuys, CA), February 14, 1965, p. 14.
“The subject related a: Claire Maybelle Phillips, Security Matter J, FBI File No. 105-377, June 6, 1945, Record Group 153/270/2/3, Entry A1 143, Box 1191, NARA.
Emma Infante was arrested: Raquiza v. Bradford, Supreme Court of the Philippines, September 13, 1945, available in the Philippines Law and Jurisprudence Database, www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1945/sep1945/gr_l-44_1945.html.
Mabel C. Enette: Claire Maybelle Phillips, Security Matter J. The FBI agents wrote the name as “Evette.”
The final report by the FBI: Ibid.
Hoover authorized an investigation: Federal Bureau of Investigation Records: Freedom of Information/Privacy Act request, FBI report on Claire Phillips, Office Memorandum, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to Special Agent in Charge, Los Angeles, CA, November 16, 1945. The FBI initiated an investigation into possible crimes concerning “Foreign Travel Control, National Stolen Property Act, Mail Fraud, Perjury.” FBI agents questioned people who knew Claire and monitored her mail. No charges were filed.
Public Affairs
Red Cross relief personnel: Transcript of the Testimony of Claire Phillips Clavier, San Francisco, CA, January 11, 1956, CC, 1325–26.
“Just as I was: Ibid., 1324.
“I tried to make: Ibid., 1325.
After the Portland visit: They bought the house on August 19, 1945, for $3,780. The bill of sale is an exhibit in the Court of Claims case. Uniform Agreement of Sale and Deposit, San Francisco, CA, August 12, 1945 (sale was completed one week later with actual payment), CC.
“Huntley: Mrs. Phillips: I Was There, script, June 17, 1945, KNX Radio Archives, Thousand Oaks Library, Thousand Oaks, CA.
He “dressed up” the: Transcript of the Testimony of Claire Phillips Clavier, San Francisco, California, January 11, 1956, CC, 1266.
“I wish to state that: ME, “Foreword,” no page number.
She was talking about: They went as far as to sign a collaboration agreement, but a book never appeared. Oliver La Farge was a cousin of John LaFarge, the subject of my book The Pope’s Last Crusade.
“Oh boy, what a: Lorenza Amusategui, letter to Oliver La Farge, October 12, 1947, Oliver La Farge Collection, Series II, Box 23, Folder 6, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin.
“From the neck down: Transcript of the Testimony of Claire Phillips Clavier, San Francisco, California, January 11, 1956, CC, 1117.
“When I asked her: Ibid., 1326.
“He wanted a picture: Ibid. The original photo is in the Fred Hill Photography Collection at the Pierce Library of Eastern Oregon University and is available at http://eou.pastperfect-online.com/36819cgi/mweb.exe?request=keyword;keyword=tsubaki;dtype=d. Hill and Risdon produced two other photographs of Claire, Dian, and Peggy while they still were in Manila.
She said he wrote: ME, 137.
“‘See dis hand’: Ibid.
Safe at Home
Claire actually had more: Court Findings, October 22, 1956, CC, 2–3.
Problems like this increased: In 2009, sixty-four years after the war, President Barack Obama signed a measure that would free up funds for Filipino veterans who were never paid, $15,000 each to Filipinos who were U.S. citizens, $9,000 each to noncitizens. But the issue was still unsettled, because a number of guerrilla fights were not registered as having fought. See Josh Levs, “U.S. to Pay ‘Forgotten’ Filipino World War II Veterans,” CNN.com, February 23, 2009, www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/23/forgotten.veterans/index.html.
Claire’s chance of receiving: “Truman Sanctions War Claims Bill,” New York Times, July 4, 1948, p. 10.
Her attorneys had now: Frank Halpin, “Liberator Greets Claire Phillips, Famed U.S. Spy,” Washington Times-Herald, May 1, 1951, p. 11.
“I do not ask that: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearings on S911 for the Relief of Claire Ph
illips Clavier, 82nd Cong., 1st sess., October 2, 1951, vol. 1, p. 7.
“I might not get: Claire Phillips to Evangeline Neibert, June 17, 1947, CC.
“We are asking only: Senator Wayne Morse, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearings on S911 for the Relief of Claire Phillips Clavier, 82nd Cong., 1st sess., October 2, 1951, vol. 1, CC, 2–3.
“Dorothy Claire Fuentes”: Utinsky, Miss U, 75.
“She had lost 15: Lorenza Amusategui, document, undated, Philippine Archive Collection, POWS/Civilian Internees, Record Group 407/270/49/27/1, Box 143A-B, NARA, 23.
However, recognition of Claire: In the other cases an army awards panel reviewed nominations for the award, which were then forwarded to Washington for approval. In this case, however, MacArthur intervened. The text of Claire’s notification of the award reads, in part: “By direction of the President, under the provisions of Army Regulations 600-45, the Medal of Freedom is awarded to you by the Commander-in-Chief, Far East, for meritorious service which has aided the United States in the prosecution of the war against Japan in the Southwest Pacific Areas, from June 1942 to June 1944.” Citation for Medal of Freedom, Plaintiff’s exhibit No. 2B, CC.
On January 19, 1949, Claire: “Child Home Safely After Kidnap Scare,” Spokane Daily Chronicle, November 19, 1949.
Claire, he said: This Is Your Life, Radio Series, CD 29, Ralph Edwards Collection, UCLA Film & Television Archive.
I Was an American Spy
(He had given her: Frank S. Sever and Frederic W. Young, Statement of Support, Senate Resolution 2837, undated, CC. As mentioned earlier, Claire had received written notice of the award from the army in January 1948.
The New York Times called: “Spy Story Opens at the Holiday,” New York Times, July 4, 1951, p. 13.
The lawyers had now: Petition, July 1, 1952, CC.
On Trial
Hoover ordered “that this: Federal Bureau of Investigation Records: Freedom of Information/Privacy Act request, FBI report on Claire Phillips, Letter from Hoover to Special Agent in Charge, San Francisco, California, May 26, 1953.
“I do not in: Mamerto Roxas, affidavit, August 23, 1949, CC, 4.
“Did you have a: Transcript of the Testimony of Claire Phillips Clavier, Portland, Oregon, November 10, 1953, CC, 113.
“I wondered how they: Transcript of the Testimony of Claire Phillips Clavier, Portland, Oregon, November 12, 1953, CC, 229–30.
“I remember when I: Transcript of the Testimony of John Boone, Washington, DC, September 14, 1955, CC, 708–13.
Despite the unexpected news: John Boone, affidavit, October 12, 1945, CC.
“I felt that in view: Transcript of the Testimony of John Boone, Washington, DC, September 14, 1955, CC, 680–83.
They received word from: Federal Bureau of Investigation Records: Freedom of Information/Privacy Act request, FBI report on Claire Phillips, Office Memorandum, written by Agent Matthew J. Lightbody, July 31, 1953.
“I gave her the name,”: Transcript of the Testimony of Margaret Utinsky, San Francisco, California, January 11, 1956, CC, 1097.
“The basic facts are: Transcript of the Testimony of Claire Phillips Clavier, Portland, Oregon, November 12, 1953, CC, 1309–30.
“Much of her story: U.S. Court of Claims finding, CC, 14.
Her Own life
Her mother listed her: Claire Phillips, Standard Certificate of Death, State of Oregon, file no. 6609, June 10, 1960.
“He drank quite a: CC, Fuentes v. Fuentes, Defendant’s Exhibit 4, divorce deposition of Claire Fuentes, April 25, 1947, Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for the County of Multnomah, Portland, Oregon.
“He went back to Manila: Claire Phillips to Evangeline Neibert, August 4, 1947, CC.
“I, at last, found: Claire Phillips to Evangeline Neibert and Naomi Flores, January 28, 1948, CC.
“Private funeral services have: Obituary: Claire Phillips, Portland Oregonian, May 24, 1960.
The death certificate filed: Claire Phillips, Standard Certificate of Death, June 10, 1960.
After the War
“We couldn’t find: Jeanne Boone, interview with the author, December 18, 2015.
“I am not a: Ingham, Rendezvous by Submarine, 19.
She died in 1984: Fely said in an interview in 1947 that she was twenty-seven years old, but Social Security records indicate she may have been five years older.
On August 11, 1955: Private Law 478, 84th Congress, CC; www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-69/pdf/STATUTE-69-PgA162.pdf.
She had been raised: CC, 784.
It took a long: Roy C. Bennett, “Jap Prisoner Describes Horrors of Santo Tomas,” Altoona Tribune, February 16, 1945, p. 5.
“He couldn’t do it: Joan Bennett Chapman, interview with the author, February 6, 2015.
“The shadows are lengthening: MacArthur, Reminiscences, 426.
“Witnesses for the prosecution: Akira Nagahama, letter to Lieutenant General Styer, War Crimes Trial of Colonel Akira Nagahama, 639–41; Record Group 331/290/12/13/3, Entry 1321, Box 1579, NARA.
Author’s Note
the “mysterious woman known: Sides, Ghost Soldiers, 184.
Among them was Emmanuel: Ocampo died on December 26, 2015.
“His goal was to help: Rachel Joyce E. Burce, “Sentimental Homecoming for Daughter of MB’s First Editor,” Manila Bulletin, February 5, 2015, www.mb.com.ph/sentimental-homecoming-for-daughter-of-mbs-first-editor/.
“Looking at it in: Professor Ricardo Jose, interview with the author, February 2015; Associated Press, “US Survivors Mark 70 Years Since One of WWII’s Most Hellish Battles: Vets Remember Horrors of the Battle of Manila in Which 100,000 Civilians Were Killed by the Japanese,” Daily Mail, February 28, 2015, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2973493/American-survivors-remember-horrors-month-long-Battle-Manila-70-years-paying-tribute-100-000-civilians-killed-Japanese.html.
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