MacArthur's Spies

by Peter Eisner

  I took a moment at the cemetery to peruse the names of the dead—in addition to the 17,206 people buried there, the largest number of World War II U.S. military war dead in any foreign burial place. Many of them were killed in the battles of New Guinea and the Philippines; more than 36,000 MIAs are also memorialized. Searching through the alphabetic list, I found the name “Jacques R. Eisner,” a U.S. Navy officer buried at sea on November 13, 1942. Though apparently not a relative, he was born in 1919 in New Jersey, as was my father. I was reminded of the randomness of lives lost and lives saved.

  • • •

  This was a story of superlatives. The U.S. retreat in the Philippines after Pearl Harbor, punctuated by General MacArthur’s pledge to return, was part of the largest American military defeat in history and the largest surrender. When MacArthur made good on his promise three years later, he mounted a huge naval task force. The Battle of Leyte Gulf from October 23 to October 26, 1944, was by many accounts the largest naval battle of World War II and perhaps in world history, larger than, though obscured by, the D-Day attack on Normandy fourteen weeks earlier. Repeating the shocking statistic: 100,000 people died in one month in the Battle of Manila from February 3 to March 3, 1945. Most of them were Filipino civilians.

  While in Manila, I attended events that marked the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of Manila. Americans and Filipinos now well into their eighties and nineties spoke of those days. Among them was Emmanuel de Ocampo, ninety-one, a retired banking executive, then a teenager among three hundred Filipino students armed with World War I Enfield rifles, if that, who joined the fight with the guerrillas.

  I was there on February 3, 2015, for ceremonies at the University of Santo Tomas to mark the seventieth anniversary of freedom for the Santo Tomas internees. There I stood with Joan Bennett Chapman and other survivors of the detention camp. Some were old and bowed, but were determined to tell future generations about their memories of those days. Joan provided vivid stories and I am grateful for her friendship. She was born in Manila and detained at the university with her father, Roy C. Bennett, her mother, and her sister. “My goal in coming back here was to put physical reality into the memory of the experience,” she said. Joan had not been in the Philippines since she left in 1945 on the SS Lykes, the same ship that took Claire and Peggy back to America. In Manila Joan went off in search of her childhood home. The house was no longer there. Next she went unannounced to the offices of the Manila Bulletin in Intramuros, where her father had been the editor until the Japanese invasion. She was welcomed and the newspaper published a story about her visit the following day. She told a reporter that her visit gave her a sense of closure, as if she were bringing her father home. “His goal was to help develop a free, good, Filipino press. . . . As long as I’m alive and I’ve got my kids, the Manila Bulletin will always be a part of who we are.”

  The destruction of Manila during the recapture of the city from the Japanese was nightmarish. “Looking at it in terms of the whole picture of World War II, Manila should be on the map,” said Dr. Ricardo T. Jose, a professor of history at the University of the Philippines. “And yet few people know that. It was one of the worst battlefields of the war.”

  • • •

  Much of the credit for my ability to tell the story of MacArthur’s Spies goes to those Philippine historians, veterans, survivors, and relatives of those who lived through World War II. The often-mentioned warmth and friendliness of the Philippines descended upon me within moments of my arrival in Manila in February 2015. My thanks to John Silva, his sister, Marie Vallejo, and her husband, Agustin Vallejo, who were instant friends and companions on the Manila trip. We took a tour north of Manila one fine Sunday, surrounded by memories of the war wherever we went. Marie spent months at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, leading a team of researchers copying and cataloging World War II files. It is part of her campaign to document and justify Philippine guerrillas’ claims for wartime compensation. She is also engaged in recovering history. She told me: “Out of the 270 boxes and almost 300,000 records scanned, the numerous stories can rewrite history.” The documents reveal many stories of heroism long hidden in dusty folders on back shelves. “Now here we were, almost seventy years [after World War II ended], scanning these same hidden and crumbling records and bringing them out into the world.” Marie and I essentially are looking to tell the same stories.

  My thanks to many other people in Manila: to Soledad Vanzi, a journalist who is tireless in her efforts to make connections and smooth the way; to Dr. Ricardo T. Jose, eminent historian at the University of the Philippines, who was so generous with his time whenever I sought help and advice; thanks also to the family of Marcial Lichauco, including Sunshine Lichauco de Leon, his granddaughter. My greetings to Jesse Lichauco, a Filipina American and Marcial’s wife. At the age of 104, she continues to hold court. The Lichaucos opened their home during the occupation to the sick and wounded and provided aid to war refugees. Thanks to Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr., who served as U.S. envoy to the Philippines from 2010 to 2013. Ambassador Thomas provided contacts and helpful advice and put me in touch with the Lichauco family. Thanks also to Tina Malone, counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. embassy, for a tour and providing photographs of the embassy. The staff of Ateneo de Manila University was very helpful in providing access to their archives. Many thanks to the management and staff of the Luneta Hotel; the historic little hotel was two blocks from Tsubaki Club and across the street from Luneta Park and Intramuros, around the corner from the U.S. embassy. The beautifully remodeled building maintained the air of the Manila that once was.

  It was great to get to know Peter Parsons during and after my Philippines stay; Peter appears as a child in the narrative. He has spent decades researching the activities of his remarkable father, Chick Parsons. Peter provided commentary, advice, and corrections on the first draft of this book; he is a font of information about the occupation of the Philippines and continues his research. Peter and his colleague, Lucky Guillermo, produced an excellent and highly recommended set of documentaries about Chick Parsons, the occupation, and the Battle of Manila.

  I was fortunate to have the chance to travel and chat in Manila with James Zobel, archivist at the MacArthur Memorial and Library in Norfolk, Virginia. Jim also read and provided corrections for the first draft and I am grateful. He is a generous, eminently knowledgeable, and indefatigable source of information about the Pacific war, General Douglas MacArthur and his life and times.

  The staff at the National Archives in Washington, DC, is well known for its expertise and generosity. Archivist Robert Ellis at the old building in downtown Washington was the point man in locating the lost files of Clavier v. US, hidden away in a location only he was able to find. My thanks to everyone who helped me at the archives, more names than I can recall, but especially Richard W. Peuser, William H. Davis, Rebecca L. Collier, Megan B. Dwyre, Christina Violeta Jones, and Eric Van Slander. My apologies to those inadvertently not mentioned.

  Thanks also to the staff of the UCLA Film and Television Archive; Karen Clay and Katie Townsend at Pierce Library, Eastern Oregon University; and Ariel Evans at the Harry Ransom Center, the University of Texas at Austin.

  Chris Schaefer’s fine history of the guerrillas on Bataan was an excellent resource, and Chris kindly helped me with book suggestions, documentation, and other advice; John and Mellie Boone’s daughter Jeanne Boone was kind and generous in providing information from her files; thanks to Louis Jurika, Peter Parsons’s cousin, for his information and advice; Elliott Waksman for his ground game; to Stuart Levy for the introduction; and to Federico Baldassarre. Thanks also to Malcolm Decker, his information and his books.

  I am indebted as always to my agent, Flip Brophy, for her friendship and constant attention; and to my editor, Wendy Wolf—it is a pleasure and honor to be working with her again. I am grateful for the diligent, precise editing of Tess Espinoza and f
or the line work of Georgia Bodnar. Thanks to my friend and colleague Jim Mulvaney for the idea. A number of people helped with moral support and in many cases read early edits of the manuscript. Miguel Pagliere helped research, prepare, and edit photos and documents. My readers were Michael Birkner, Steven Christensen, Henry Heilbrunn, Lynne Heilbrunn, Karl Horwitz, Kenton Keith, Peter Perl, Knut Royce, and Daun Van Ee. My aunt, Maria Teresa Leturia, inspires and always catches errors no one else has. Thanks also to John Burgess, Robert Burruss, Jerry Gropper, Neal Levy, Ian Portnoy, and Jeff Stein for their support.

  My wife, Musha Salinas Eisner, is my ever-meticulous and insightful frontline editor and adviser; she helped design and structure this book. My wonderful daughters, Isabel and Marina, always humor me in the process of writing, as does my sister, Wendy. We all share the regret that my late parents, Bernard Eisner and Lorraine Eisner, did not hang around long enough to share the book with us. My dad, especially, who retired from the navy after the war as a lieutenant (junior grade) and remained proudly in the U.S. Navy Reserve for years, would have been thrilled and might have told an extra story or two. Así es la vida.

  SOURCES

  The principal narrative of this book depends on documents contained in the files of Claire Phillips’s suit for restitution of funds, Clavier v. US. I use Manila Espionage as a source when a claim in that ghostwritten book is backed up elsewhere (such as in Claire’s unpublished diary), when another source confirms her account, or when Manila Espionage provides atmospherics and description of circumstances and events that are confirmed to have taken place. When quoting or relating Claire’s description of unconfirmed events in the memoir, I include a qualifier or a textual note. Claire’s wartime diary is at the core of this story. The U.S. government used the diary against Claire in defending her three-year federal lawsuit. Claire analyzed the diary in the court proceedings, sometimes forced to compare it line by line with her version of events in Manila Espionage. It provides a baseline of truth against distortions she and some of her comrades-in-arms told after the war. The sudden reappearance of the diary is one key to the story of Claire Phillips.

  NOTES

  Abbreviations

  CC: Clavier v. United States, U.S. Court of Claims, Record Group 123/16E3/10/27/5, Mixed Claims, 195101960, Entry 1003, Boxes 2 and 3, National Archives and Records Administration.

  Diary: Claire Phillips’s diary, exhibit in Clavier v. United States.

  MacArthur Archives: MacArthur Memorial, Library and Archives, Norfolk, VA.

  ME: Claire Phillips and Myron B. Goldsmith, Manila Espionage (Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, 1947).

  NARA: National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC.

  Preface

  Though many more Americans: According to the National Park Service, which administers the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument in Hawaii, 2,403 Americans died at Pearl Harbor and 1,178 were wounded. See www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/18arizona/18charts1.htm. About 80 Americans died and 150 were wounded in the first day of attacks in the Philippines.

  Japanese leaders, said General: MacArthur, Reminiscences, 112.

  At the outbreak of war: See, for example, Ephraim, Escape to Manila.

  “The most fascinating of all: Sides, Ghost Soldiers, 184.

  This federal court, originally: A new, differently organized U.S. Court of Claims was created in 1982 and renamed the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in 1992. The files of the original U.S. Court of Claims are held separately at the National Archives.

  World on Fire

  Beautiful Filipina hostesses circulated: Transcript of the Testimony of Felicidad P. Corcuera Santo, Washington, DC, August 23, 1954, CC, 513. Fely Corcuera’s testimony provides detailed information about finances at Tsubaki Club and the alcohol and snacks that were served.

  The puppet Philippine leader: Vargas’s formal title was Chairman of the Executive Commission. His declaration is Proclamation No. 5, December 28, 1942, held at the Republic of the Philippines Presidential Museum and Library, Manila, and available at http://malacanang.gov.ph/7149-proclamation-no-5-s-1942/.

  Life Before the War

  “That’s newspaper talk,”: ME, 1.

  “Call it restlessness, fate: Ibid.

  She had been born: Records of the 1910 U.S. Census, Racine, WI, Ward 10, District 0082, sheet 15, available by searching at www.ancestry.com.

  A loose rail tore: “Two Immigrants Killed,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, December 13, 1909, p. 8.

  Mabel De La Taste moved: Records of the 1910 U.S. Census; Records of the 1920 U.S. Census, State of Oregon, Multnomah County, City of Portland, precinct 123, sheet 4; FBI File 105-377, Record Group 153/270/2/3, Entry A1 143, Box 1191, NARA.

  Clara Snyder was: Edna May Root, “Franklin Clubs Choose Their Officers,” Portland Oregonian, September 17, 1922, p. 6.

  She was still sixteen: Certificate of Marriage, no. A3762, September 4, 1924, Records of Clark County, State of Washington.

  Claire was still a teenager: Marriage of Edwin George Flinn and Clara Delataste, August 31, 1927, Name index of marriage records, Reference ID 52821, Salt Lake City, County of Salt Lake, State of Utah, available by searching at www.ancestry.com (Utah, County Marriages, 1887–1937).

  Claire’s third known husband: Marriage Certificate of Joseph V. Enette and Clara M. De La Taste, December 12, 1929, Series A12526, Seattle, Marriage Records, County of King, State of Washington.

  Joe and Clara Enette: Records of the 1930 U.S. Census, Seattle, Washington. A 1945 FBI file lists one of her names as Mabel C. Evette, one of several misspellings in that FBI document, the cursive n changed to a cursive v.

  The census form had: Joe Enette (1891–1975) is categorized as of “Ethiopian” ancestry on his World War I draft registration card.

  Clara and Joe were: R.L. Polk & Co.’s Snohomish, County P.O. Rural Routes (1933), 728, available by searching at www.ancestry.com (U.S. City Directories, 1822–1995, Everett, Washington, City Directory, 1933).

  However, Claire appeared on: Federal Bureau of Investigation Records: Freedom of Information/Privacy Act request, FBI report on Claire Phillips, File Number 105-77, Report made at Portland, Oregon, August 29, 1945. “According to the FBI files, FBI No. 4363088, this subject as DOROTHY SMITH was arrested by the Sheriff’s Office in Seattle, Washington, on March 2, 1933, on a charge of vagrancy. The disposition is not shown.”

  She was a passenger: List of Outward-Bound Passengers (Aliens and Citizens) for Immigration Officials at Port of Departure. SS President Pierce, Passengers Sailing from Honolulu, T.H. [Territory of Hawaii], April 26th, 1939. Tourist Class Disembarking at Manila, May 13th, 1939, available by searching at ancestry.com (Honolulu, HI, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1900–1959). The manifest lists Claire as “Maybelle Enette, 31.”

  Once in the Philippines: 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.

  Many years later Claire: Transcript of the Testimony of Claire Phillips Clavier, January 11, 1956, San Francisco, California, CC, 1209–11. Claire said Dian was born on February 7, 1940, and Dian’s mother died in childbirth. She was then asked by a government attorney: “Have you ever given birth to a child at any time?” She answered: “No, I never did and I never could.”

  He sailed to the United States: Manuel L. Fuentes, forty-three, is listed on a ship’s manifest as a Philippine-national crew member of the freighter Cavalcade, which arrived at San Francisco on October 2, 1941. (The manifest can be found by searching at www.ancestry.com.) His family tree at www.ancestry.com identifies him as the person listed on the Cavalcade manifest.

  “We’re birds of a feather”: ME, 2.

  He was John Vincent Phillips: The service record of John V. Phillips, 31st Infantry, number 6576013, lists him as a private. Clai
re and others over time have written that he was a sergeant.

  “The quiet type, I: ME, 1

  Phillips wrote home: Mrs. Vada M. Phillips, letter to O. D. Boorom, January 31, 1946, CC.

  Infamy Across the Pacific

  When the news bulletin: In 1941 Hawaii Standard Time was five and a half hours earlier than Eastern Standard Time. U.S. radio announced the attack just before 2:30 p.m. EST, 3:30 a.m. Manila time.

  “Señora, excuse me, please: ME, 8.

  One Manila resident went: Lichauco, Dear Mother Putnam, 25.

  “When we reached the bank: ME, 10.

  Phillips gave Claire the keys: Claire’s diary entry for December 8 says, “bid A farewell, got car, packed.” “A” is her code for Phillips or for American soldiers, depending on the context. She writes on December 10, “7. A arrives-go Pilar-100 stops—no car lights—arrive.” Reviewing the diary during the Court of Claims case, Claire wasn’t sure what the annotation meant. At first she said that it meant “7 a.m.” In further testimony she said “A” represented “American” or “Americans.” In Manila Espionage she says they drove together to Pilar that afternoon. It is questionable that Phillips could have left his unit a day after the Japanese attack or that he would drive more than half a day with her and only then reach his unit’s new camp.

  “Oh, I don’t think: ME, 10.

  “Bombing far away: Diary, December 10, 1942.

  Claire waited for Phillips: In Manila Espionage Claire says Phillips visited often; that is not clear in her diary.

  Invasion

  MacArthur’s commanders had been: MacArthur, Reminiscences, 110.