Claire Phillips

'Claire Phillips (1908-1960), also known as Clara Fuentes or High Pockets, was an American spy during World War II in the Philippines. In 1951, upon the recommendation of General Douglas MacArthur, she became the first woman to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Biography

Claire Phillips was born in Portland, Oregon. In September 1941, after a failed marriage, Phillips' traveled with her daughter Manila in the Philippines in hopes of joining a dance revue. While there, she met and married an American soldier stationed there named John Phillips. During the invasion of the Philippines by Japanese forces in 1941 and early 1942, her husband was killed, though she would be unaware of this until some time later. After the surrender of the American forces in the Philippines on April 9, 1942, she was convinced by an American soldier turned insurgent named John Boone to organize an espionage ring in Manila to help the resistance.

Working with a young Filipino dancer named Fely Corcuera, Phillips arranged forged papers and created a new identity for herself as a Philippine born Italian dancer named Dorothy Clara Fuentes. Together the two women established a cabaret titled "Club Tsubaki," a gentleman's club that would quickly become popular with Japanese officers in Manila. Using the cabaret as a cover, Phillips began an extensive spy ring which harvested information from the Japanese officers who patronized the club. While initially the spy ring was intended to support the Philippine resistance, some of the information she collected was transmitted to American forces in the Pacific and used to predict and counter Japanese force movements.

In addition to her spy activities, she worked extensively with the guerilla movement to smuggle food, medicines, supplies and information to the prisoners of the Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp. To the prisoners of the camp, she became known as "High Pockets." The name was said to be a description of her method of smuggling messages by hiding them in her brassiere.

In May 1944, Phillips was apprehended by Japanese authorities (the Kempeitai) after one of the messengers she used to contact the POWs at Cabanatuan was captured, interrogated and killed. She was taken to "Bilibid Prison", the infamous Japanese prison in Cabanatuan Cuty (two miles from the American Prison Camp) where she was tortured for information. Despite the torture, Phillips refused to talk. She was held in solitary confinement for six months and was slated to be executed for espionage. In January of 1945, she was liberated from the prison by American forces before the Japanese could execute her.

After the war, Phillips returned with her daughter to the United States where she wrote Manila Espionage, a book about her experiences. Her story was made into a Hollywood move entitled I Was An American Spy, starring Ann Dvorak as Claire Phillips. Phillips was also a guest on This Is Your Life.

In 1951, upon the recommendation of General Douglas MacArthur, she became the first woman to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Claire Phillips died in 1960 at the age of 52.

References

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

Internet Links

• http://www.medaloffreedom.com/ClairePhillips.htm