Claire Phillips

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Claire Phillips was an American spy during World War II in the Philippines.

[edit] Biography

Phillips' spy career began when she and her daughter travelled to Manila in hopes of Claire joining a dance revue. Claire met an attractive young soldier whom she married and stayed in the Philippines to be near her husband. But when her husband was caught (and later killed) she decided to help the other American prisoners in Cabanatuan Camp (the same camp her husband was in). She soon became the owner of the Manila Cabaret "Club Tsubaki", a gentleman's club popular with Japanese officers. Under the alias "High Pockets" (for her pockets were full of money), Phillips gathered intelligence that were used in the resistance against the Japanese. Phillips also stored and hid messages in her lingerie. She also helped smuggle supplies and information to the prisoners of the Cabanatuan Prison Camp.

One day, when Phillips sent a messenger to Cabanatuan Camp, the messenger was caught, tortured, and told the Japanese who the message was from. The next morning, Phillips was apprehended by Japanese authorities (the Kempeitai) after a year and a half of working undercover. They went into the club, blindfolded Phillips, and had her march to "Bilibid Prison", the infamous Japanese prison in Cabanatuan Cuty (two miles from the American Prison Camp). She was tortured to near death but refused to talk. The Japanese became irritated by her refusal to speak. The Japanese put her in a prison cell for six months in solitary confinement. After those six months, the Japanese were ordered to execute her. However, she was liberated in January of 1945 by military forces before the Japanese could execute her and she managed to survive the war. She became the first woman to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom upon the recommendation of General Douglas MacArthur. She was a guest on This Is Your Life, and after a magazine article followed by a book, Manila Espionage, the subject of a movie entitled I Was An American Spy, starring Ann Dvorak as Claire Phillips. She unexpectedly died nine years later.

[edit] References

Sides, Hampton. Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II's Most Dramatic Mission. New York: Doubleday, 2001.